


More than Survival

by Grimes_Dixon



Category: Walking Dead, Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-06
Updated: 2015-02-24
Packaged: 2018-01-11 09:06:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 44,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1171243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grimes_Dixon/pseuds/Grimes_Dixon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rick & OC/ <3<br/>The past catches up with Jolene after she had been running for so long. Ricks group slowly falls apart and the only person who understands him is the woman he is falling for, Jolene. Knowing Rick can't have anything to do with her because of Lori will Daryl proceeds with his "Feelings" towards Jolene. Rick knows it's wrong but it feels so right. Romance, drama, death, murder and unexpected twists for the group slowly breaks them apart.</p><p> I don't own any rights to The Walking Dead only the original characters I've created. It's fan fiction. Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Running from Woodbury

**Author's Note:**

> This story contains future descriptive adult situations, violence and foul mouth language. This is a Rick and O/C and Daryl/Carol/Michonne fan fiction. If you read the comics you might see some similarities and characters down the line as the story progresses (For Example, the cannibals). If you love torture and romance then this story is for you. Reviews are always welcome. Hope you all enjoy!
> 
> Rick and Daryl make their appearance in chapter 3 in case you are wondering when they will show up.

Jolene grabbed the keys from the dead police officer and tried un cuffing the handcuffs on her wrists. She was shaken up from what just happened that it took her a few tries to finally unlock the cuffs. She threw them to the ground and ran. She busted through the front door of the police station and ran for her life. She had no clue what was happening but something was obviously not right. Jolene ran to Jensen’s house, her best friend, the only person who knew she was innocent. She heard police sirens nearing and in panic she jumped behind a bush for cover hoping they didn’t see her and that they were not after her. She poked through the bush and the police car raced out of her vision.

She sighed in relief and she jumped back out making her way to his house.

She was running on the sidewalk and ran past a few houses with doors wide open and the sound of screaming from a distance. Jolene stopped in front of a light blue house to take a few breaths before she started running again.

“Please, please help me.” An elderly woman walked out of the house and slowly tried making her way to Jolene. She was holding her stomach, her pink nightgown covered with blood and pale as if she was sick.

Jolene took a few steps back from the woman. “I’m sorry…” She whispered and continued running.

She finally reached the front of Jensen’s home and realized something was wrong. The front door was wide open with blood splattered on the front porch. She slowly walked up the porch and with horror she threw up yesterday’s lunch. Jensen’s Golden Retriever laid dead in the middle of the living room, the body ripped open and intestines everywhere. After she finished vomiting she wiped her mouth with her shirt, ran in Jensen's car that was wide open, hotwired it and jammed out of the city.

Five Months Later

Philip, the leader of Woodbury found Jolene along the way. He saved her from the horrors of what civilians had become once shit hit the fan. A story Jolene tries to forget. Every city seemed to be infected with the walking dead except for the small community of Woodbury. They had it fenced up and Philip had several men on look out all day and night to make sure the dead didn’t make their way in. It was safe enough to have the survivors walk around the streets without having to worry about anything but for everyone’s safety they all had a curfew, once dusk was upon us everyone goes back in their homes until dawn.

His daughter Penny died two months after Jolene joined Woodbury. She was bitten by a bitter after a herd broke down the fence. Bitters, a name that Philip came up with instead of calling them the walking dead. Jolene was taken back a bit, she had gotten close to Penny. Philip left her in Jolene’s care when he was out taking care of business.

Since then Philips behavior changed. He was a man set out to protect Penny, a man of reason and negotiation. A man who put the needs of others before himself and now Jolene had noticed that he had become more ruthless, power hungry and what he says goes, no matter what. It went far enough for him to declare a new name, a name everyone in Woodbury calls him now…The Governor.

Jolene didn’t blame him for the change. Anyone who would lose their old life and family would change and the only reason she was holding everything in so well was because before all this started she had already lost her old life. She had nothing to lose anymore and no one to care for. Even though she didn’t blame him for the man he was turning out to be she couldn’t help but to be a little afraid of him. She found him to be pretty off as he gained power but she couldn’t put her finger on it, he kept her in the dark.

“Jolene.” Philip stumbled into her room. He looked at her and he couldn’t hold in his emotions for her anymore. He wanted her.

“Philip, are you drunk?” She got up from her bed and walked up to him.

Philips actions did the talking as he wrapped his arms around her waist bringing her close to him. “I’m so lonely Jolene.”

“I know." She felt compassion for him. "You’re drunk, let me take you to bed.” Jolene gently pushed him away from her and grabbed his hand to lead him to his room.

Philip resisted and pulled her back into his arms. “I love you.” He whispered and went in for his first kiss with her.

“Philip…” She jerked her head back, escaping his lips.

“You understand me. You know my pain. I lost my wife, Penny…everything.” He poured his heart out as he grabbed the back of her head to bring her closer for a kiss.

She could taste the bourbon in his warm breath.

“Philip.” She pushed him away. “Let’s not go there.” She looked up to him. She didn’t see him as anything more than just a friend, a man who saved her life and brought her to this safe community.

He pulled her back in forcefully now, wanting to have his way with her. He was drunk, lonely and horny, a bad combination for a power hungry man. Jolene whimpered in pain from his grip, trying to push him away. He over powered her and pushed her onto the bed. He unbuckled his holster that held his gun and hunting knife and dropped it to the floor.

“Philip please, stop.” She pleaded.

“I saved your life, I work hard to keep you safe, it’s the least you could do.” He unbuttoned and zipped down the zipper of his pants.

She quickly got off the bed and backed away from him slowly. “Philip! Please, don’t do this.”

He paid no attention to her words as he walked over to her. She turned and picked up the lamp that rested on the night stand and bashed it over his head. Glass shattered over his head and he collapsed down to the floor.

She stood there in shock. She didn’t know what to do. She walked over to his body and put her index and middle finger to the side of his neck checking for a pulse. He was still breathing just unconscious.

She walked over and pulled out the hunting knife and gun from his belt. Jolene did the only thing she could do, the only thing she knows, run. She grabbed her back pack and packed some clothes and ran down stairs. She took two water bottles and a few snacks for the road and left the house. She quickly walked over to the fence where Philips right hand man Martinez stood.

“Where you goin?” Martinez anaylized the situation at hand.

“Get out of my way.” She walked passed him.

“Hey, you can’t leave.” He grabbed her shoulder and turned her to him.

“Watch me!” She shrugged away from him.

Martinez grabbed her shoulder again but Jolene quickly turned to him and aimed the gun to his face. He jolted back a step and she backed away from him.

“If you’re gonna shoot me then shoot me.” She walked away from him and jumped over the tires that surrounded the fence.

“He killed them!” Martinez yelled out to her as she was walking away. Jolene turned around and looked at Martinez from outside the fence. “The man who tried leaving a month ago, Gregg and his sister, The Governor had me track them down. When I did, he killed them, toyed with them first. When he finds out your gone, even though I don’t want to…you know we have to do what we have to do.” Martinez warned her.

“I’ll be waiting.” She turned and walked away.

It hurt her to hear those words come out of Martinez’s mouth. Occasionally they would share a drink and talk for hours. He was her only true friend in Woodbury. She knew once Philip regained consciousness they will track her down and it would all be over. She knew very well Philip was capable of anything but she wouldn’t let herself be afraid, not anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You will find out more about Jolene in future chapters. Like for starters, why was Jolene handcuffed in a police station?


	2. Promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rick and Daryl are in the next chapter, hope its catching your attention. :)

Dawn finally hit, Jolene had been running and walking all night avoiding bitters at any cost. There were not too many so she dogged them. The sunlight now peeked down through the trees making things easier, she could now see what was in her path but there were only trees in her path ahead. Jolene desperately wanted to rest. She was tired, hungry and scared but knew that stopping was not an option. The Governor could have his men out looking for her already and she couldn’t take the risk.

Three bitters stumbled from behind the trees, revealing themselves from the right side of Jolene. It caught her off guard. She quickly pulled out the knife and stabbed one of them in the skull and quickly did the same to the next walker that was the closest. As she dug the knife deep into its skull it got stuck. She tried to pull it out but was quickly tackled down by the last bitter and her back pack fell off her shoulder, out of arms reach. She couldn’t grab her gun that was in the back pack and the knife was in the dead bitters skull that she also couldn’t reach for. The bitter laid on top of her trying to bite her face off, making awful growling sounds that penetrated deep in her ears.

She started moaning, almost wanting to cry as she was one inch away from the rotting bitters face. A vile smell swam through her nose; she tried to breath out of her mouth but if she did she was afraid she would vomit. She couldn’t stand the smell of the rotting flesh on top of her.

“Catch!” A yell alarmed Jolene. She looked left and right but didn’t see anyone.

“Up here!” The voice sounded again.

Jolene looked up in the trees and saw a little girl high up, sitting on a thick branch hiding in the leaves. The little girl tossed down her pocket knife and landed two inches away from Jolene’s shoulder. She reached out, gripped the pocket knife tight and stabbed the bitter in the middle of its forehead. The bitter collapsed on her body and Jolene quickly pushed it away from her, not wanting any more blood on her clothes. She got up and looked up in the tree.

“Thank you.” Jolene panted.

“You’re welcome.” The little girl replied. She didn’t know what else to say to the stranger she just saved.

“What are you doing up there?” Jolene walked over to her back pack.

“Hiding.”

“Who you hiding from?”

“Bad people.”

“So you’re alone?”

The little girl nodded.

“It’s too dangerous to be out here alone. Are you sure they’re all bad, the people you were with?”

“They were doing things, bad things.” The little girl closed her eyes, the images of all the bad things she’s seen burned in her mind.

“How long have you been up there?”

“All night.”

Jolene scratched the back of her head knowing she couldn’t leave her alone. She opened her back pack and pulled out a protein bar and a bottle of water.

“I don’t know how long it’s been for you but I can imagine you’re thirsty.”

The little girl eyed the protein bar and water bottle, wanting to devour it but was skeptical to trust the lady providing it. Jolene knew she had to earn her trust.

“I’m not the bad guy here. I’m running away just like you but it’s too dangerous for you to be alone. I can help you but you need to trust me. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

The little girl sat there in silence, thinking of what to do. “Pinky promise.”

Jolene released a small smile for comfort. “Pinky promise.”

The little girl grabbed her small back pack and slowly climbed down the tree. She tripped over her foot and fell to the ground.  
“Are you okay?” Jolene quickly approached her.

“I’m okay.” The little girl got up and dusted off her white dress that went down to her knees and black leggings.

“Nice hat.” Jolene complimented her baseball cap that had a capital D in the middle

“Thank you.” The little girl slowly took a few steps towards Jolene.

She put out her right pinky and Jolene bent down to her level and locked her pinky with the little girls promising she won’t hurt her.

“I’m Jolene.” Their pinky’s released as she handed the protein bar and water bottle to the little girl.

“Clementine.”

“That’s a beautiful name.”

“Thank you.”

“Think you can walk and eat at the same time?” Jolene put her back pack over her shoulder.

Clementine nodded as she opened the protein bar.

“I think you dropped something.” Jolene walked over to the tree to where Clementine dropped a photo on her way down.

“I got it.” Clementine ran over and picked it up before Jolene got to it.

“Okay.” Jolene backed away, respecting her belongings. “We should get a move on. It’s not safe here.” Jolene started walking as Clementine walked beside her.

Later That Night

Jolene and Clementine had been walking all day and found a small cabin. They both checked it out and decided to stay there for the night.

“How old are you?” Jolene asked as they were sitting down on the wooden floor in the living room.

“Nine. How old are you?”

“Twenty five, I think.”

“You think?” Clementine looked to her as she reached in the can of peaches that they found in the cabin kitchen.

“I could be twenty six already. It’s been like what, five months or so since all this started. I’m pretty sure my birthday passed.”

“Then you are twenty six.” Clementine declared.

“Okay. I’m twenty six. When’s your birthday?”

“December twenty four.”

“Oh you’re a Christmas Eve baby.”

“Yeah.” Clementine looked to the floor. She knew she wasn’t getting a birthday this year. Not the way it was before. Jolene noticed her change in facial expressions and knew she was pondering over everything that has happened to her.

“Hey, we’ll find a way okay.” Jolene caressed her shoulder for comfort.


	3. Stand Down

Morning

Jolene and Clementine left the cabin and continued on their search for hope. They got a few minutes into their walking and the sound of rustling and footsteps caught Jolene’s attention.

“Shh.” Jolene laid her index finger on her lips telling Clementine to stay quiet. She gently grabbed her shoulder and hid her behind a tree and Jolene hid beside the tree next to her. Now they could hear voices, the sound of two men walking and talking.

“Carl knows what’s going on. We sheltered him from it but he’s a smart kid.” A man with a police uniform was talking to the other man with a crossbow in hand. Jolene observed the two quietly, hoping they will just pass by and be gone.

The man with the crossbow stopped walking. He noticed footprints on the ground. “These are fresh. Someone was here, two of them by the looks of it.”

They both looked around, trying to see which way the footprints headed. Jolene’s heart raced as she looked at Clementine. She knew they were going to find them.

Another shuffle in the woods caught the two men’s attention and they looked the other way. Jolene poked her head out to see what was going on.

Four men appeared out of the woods with their shot guns in hand. The four men took notice to the two men and aimed their weapons to them. The officer and the man with the crossbow did the same. Both groups only several feet away from each other on guard, watching to see where the situation was headed.

Clementine slightly poked her head out and quickly brought her head back to hiding. She covered her mouth as if she was about to scream. Jolene looked to her scared that she would make a noise to draw attention but Clementine knew better. She didn’t make a sound.

“No need to aim your weapons fellas. We bring you no harm.” One of the men yelled out to the officer and the man with the crossbow. “We’re just lookin for a little girl is all. She got lost. You guys wouldn’t know anything about that would ya now?”

The two men knew by the looks of the four men that they were trouble. The officer nodded no as his gun stayed pointed at them.

“Okay. Well maybe we could talk. You guys holdin up anywhere? We have a camp, guys are more than welcome to come with. Food, water, girls, whatever you’re into, don’t matter us none.”

The two men stayed on guard trying to plot out their next move. They knew if they attacked they were outnumbered. It was two against four.

“Let’s go.” Jolene whispered to Clementine.

Clementine and Jolene slowly walked away. They tip toed slowly until the men were out of eye sight. Clementine then stopped walking and looked back.

“Why’d you stop? Let’s go.” Jolene urged her.

“They’re bad people, their looking for me.”

“I know, that’s why we’re leaving.” Jolene waved her arm, signaling her to keep walking.

“What about the other two guys? The police man and the other one. They need help?”

“They could be bad guys too, I’m not gonna risk it.”

“He’s a police officer. They’re the good guys. Those guys are going to kill them.”

“And they’ll kill us to if we help.” Jolene grabbed her arm and started walking.

Clementine looked down to the floor. She wanted to help the two men. She knew they were in trouble. Those four men were nothing but evil, that’s why she ran from them. Jolene looked down at her. She couldn’t stand to see a frown on her face.

Jolene groaned, giving in. “Stay behind the tree and don’t move. If things go bad just run straight to the cabin.” Jolene handed her the hunting knife and pulled out her gun. They slowly walked back to where the men were and Clementine hid behind the tree. Jolene hid as well then slightly poked out to see what was going on.

“Just turn back around and walk away.” The officer negotiated with the four men.

“The laws don’t apply anymore. Just because you wear that fancy outfit don’t mean shit now. I’m done talkin, let’s take what they got.” One of the men walked forward and cocked his gun.

Jolene prayed that she would be able to make the shot. She’s never used an actual gun. She’s done a lot of paint balling but nothing compares to the real thing. She aimed her gun and pulled the trigger.

*Boom*

The shot alarmed all the men and guns fired. Jolene pulled the trigger again. She shot two men. She didn’t kill them but one of the bullets went through a man’s chest and the other on a man's leg. It was enough to make them go down to make it a fair fight.

The officer and the man with the crossbow were clueless to where the gun shots came from but took advantage of it and took down the four men. After the dust settled the two men looked around and vaguely made out two figures running away from the scene.

Jolene and Clementine ran away from the commotion and back to the cabin. Three walkers were up ahead and Clementine hesitated to keep going forward. Jolene grabbed her arm and ran around the walkers. Jolene was running as fast as she could as she held on to Clementine’s arm, she was almost dragging her. Clementine tripped and fell on her knees. Jolene picked her up and held on to her. They could see the cabin up ahead and they ran inside. Jolene gently put her down and locked the cabin door.

“Go in the bedroom and hide. I’m going to keep a look out to make sure they didn’t follow.”

Clementine was shaken up, she didn’t want to hide alone.

“It’s okay. I won’t let anything happen to you remember.” She bent down to her level.

Clementine nodded and swallowed her fear as she slowly walked into the bedroom with the hunting knife in her small hands.

Jolene stood by the side of the window checking to see if she could spot anyone. She held on to the gun and tried to check how many bullets she had left. She was clueless when it came to guns and how they worked. As she tried to check she did not realize she had put the safety on.

After a while of waiting she went to check on Clementine. She walked into the room and she was nowhere in sight.

“Clementine?”

“Yes.” She lightly responded.

Jolene got down on one knee and looked under the bed. “You okay?”

“Um hum.” She mumbled.

“I am starving, how about you?”

“I could eat.” Clementine slowly rolled out from under the bed.

“Should be another can of beans…” Jolene stopped mid sentence as she heard the sound of someone trying to open the door.

Clementine quickly hid under the bed and Jolene slowly closed the bedroom door, trying to stay quiet. Jolene’s heart raced, palms started sweating with the gun in her hand. She wanted to hide but she stood three feet from the door waiting to shoot who was on the other side. She made a promise that she couldn’t break to Clementine, so running and hiding was no longer an option.

The person on the other side kicked open the door and Jolene stood there with her gun aimed at the two men.

“Get out.” She firmly warned them as she looked back and forth at them.

“We’re not here to hurt you.” The officer surrendered as he slowly put his gun down.

The man with the crossbow looked at the man he was with. He didn’t know if he should let his guard down but the officer slightly nodded at him telling him to put down his weapon.

“Don’t think I won’t shoot. Turn back around and leave.”

“We know you were the one who fired those shots. We wanted to thank you.”

“Fine, you’re welcome. Now get out!”

The officer took a small step into the cabin and Jolene aimed the gun to his face. The officer studied the gun and quickly took notice that the safety was on.

“Okay, we’ll leave, but if you could just let me help you with one thing.” The officer slowly walked towards Jolene and she froze wondering why he was so persistent. “You might want to take the safety off first, you know, so you could shoot us.” The officer took the safety off from Jolene’s gun then took a few steps back. She stood there, silent in time. Not only was she nervous about the two strange men but now she was embarrassed that the gun was not even ready to fire.

“We saw you with a child. Not entirely safe for you two to be out here. People will pass this cabin and they will check it out.”

Jolene slowly put her gun down. “We’ll manage.”

“The man behind me, his names Daryl.” The officer looked back to Daryl and then back to Jolene. “I’m Rick.” He put out his hand wanting nothing but peace.

Jolene looked back and forth at Rick and Daryl, studying their every move. She didn’t want to let her guard down. “Jolene.” She introduced herself but refused to shake Rick’s hand.

Rick put his hand down knowing that she was going to be tough on them.

“I wasn’t going to, you know, help you guys. She has a bigger heart than I do. I was gonna leave and not think twice.”

“Well we’re glad she convinced you.” Daryl finally spoke.

“We’re holding up in a prison seven miles out. We have food, water, clothes…”

“No. No, get out.” Jolene refused to let Rick finish.

“We have people…”

“I don’t care.” Jolene interrupted again. “I don’t know your people and I don’t know you. I’m not gonna do that again.”

“We should go.” Clementine slowly opened the bedroom door as she was listening to the whole conversation. “They look nice. He’s a police officer.” Clementine walked into the middle of Rick and Jolene. Jolene quickly pulled her off to the side getting her away from the two men.

Jolene bent down to her level. “No. You and I both know they could be dangerous. I’m not letting you and I get dragged off to a group of men…”

“We have women and children in our group. My son Carl, he’s thirteen, Sophia, she’s twelve.”

“I don’t care.” Jolene looked back to Rick.

“You could have shot us at any time but you didn’t. You stood down. Now that’s showing me that deep down you want to trust us.” Rick walked up to Jolene. “You saved our lives, let us repay you.”


	4. Prison

“I’m sorry Clementine.” Jolene looked down to her then back at Rick. “I can’t. I’m not going off with another group. I don’t trust you guys.”

“Then I guess I’ll just have to earn it then.” Rick persisted. It would eat at him if he didn’t do everything he could to change her mind. He couldn’t leave them out here to die.

“You should head back; let everyone know what’s going on.” Rick walked over to Daryl.

“Alright then.” Daryl knew he wouldn’t be able to change his mind. Once Rick decided to help someone there’s no changing his mind. “Be careful.”

Rick nodded at Daryl then looked back to Jolene and Clementine.

“What are you doing?” Jolene questioned Rick when she saw Daryl walk away.

“I have all the time in the world to earn your trust.” He slowly walked over to Jolene.

“Why the hell do you want us to go with you so bad?”

“Believe it or not there are still good people out here. I can’t leave a woman and child alone in the woods.”

“We don’t need your help. We’ve managed so far.”

“You don’t need our help so that means you’re stocked up on food, a car, steady roof over your head and extra ammo for that gun right? Another group will soon find this place and they’ll take what little you have left. You sure you can handle that on your own?” Rick tried to make his point clear.

Jolene stood quiet not knowing what to say. She desperately wanted to trust him but she was too scared.

“Please Jolene. I want us to go.” Clementine tugged her hand.

Jolene looked down to her, she just meet the little girl and she already adapted motherly instincts. She had to suck up her pride and give in to protect her.

“A prison?” She looked to Rick.

“Seven miles north of here. My group and I found it about two months or so ago. Fences, walls, crops, water, safe place to sleep at night.”

“I don’t trust you so why trust me?”

It took him a few seconds to gather his words. He wasn’t sure how to answer that. “I didn’t say I trust you, but we could.”

Jolene stood quiet again.

“Twelve people, two kids, five women, five men including myself.”Rick informed her.

Jolene gently grabbed Clementine’s hand and dragged her to the kitchen. She opened a can of beans and handed it to her. “Rick and I will be outside the door talking okay. Stay inside unless I say otherwise. Keep your knife in hand.” Jolene walked back to the living room of the cabin leaving Clementine in the kitchen.

“We’ll talk outside.” Jolene opened the door for Rick. He walked out and she followed behind him and gently closed the door.

“Fuck.” Jolene groaned as she ran both hands through her hair. She didn’t want to say any bad words in front of Clementine and needed air.

Rick stood there understanding her situation. A bitter stumbled out from behind the cabin and growled at them. Rick walked over to it, pulled out his hunting knife and stabbed it in the head. He pulled out the knife from the skull with a slight groan and wiped the knife on the patch of grass beside him, getting as much blood off of it as possible then put the knife away on the holster around his waist.

Jolene observed how he handled the bitter. Such knowledge and wisdom emitted from Rick, she knew he knew what it takes to survive.

“I don’t even know you but I need your word.” She walked up to him. “Give me your word as an officer and father that I can trust you because I don’t know if I could do it again. You’re a man so you don’t know how it is to live out here as a woman, to trust someone. I just…I…I need to keep her safe.” Jolene looked Rick straight in the eye.

Rick saw in her eyes that she had been through so much. He saw the part that wanted to trust him but it was broken and he wanted to repair it. “You can trust me. I give you my word.” He put his hand out.

Jolene looked at his hand then back into his eyes. She bit her bottom lip and slowly put her hand out shaking his strong hand.

 

After a long walk Jolene stopped in her tracks as the prison made itself visible through the woods.

“Come on, we’re almost there.” Clementine stopped as she noticed Jolene was not beside her.

“I…I can’t do it.” Jolene stuttered.

“We have to. Police officers can not lie, it’s the law.” Clementine tried convincing her. She still had hope that there are good people in this cruel world and that Rick is one of them.

Jolene leaned her back against a tree, shut her eyes and took a deep breath.

“I gave you my word; let me prove to you how far that goes.” Rick gently laid his right hand on her shoulder but kept his body distant from hers.

She opened her eyes looking into Ricks eyes and saw nothing but honesty then down to Clementine. She was so innocent and she knew she had to keep her that way. Clementine nodded and Jolene grabbed her hand and continued walking towards the prison.

They finally reached the fences of the prison and Rick walked up to Daryl and an Asian man who opened the gate. Jolene slowly followed Rick in, analyzing everything in her vision for anything suspicious.

“Anyone who saves our people definitely deserves a chance.” The Asian man walked up to Jolene with his hand out. “I’m Glenn.”

“Jolene. She’s Clementine.” She shook his hand.

Clementine walked up to Glenn and put her hand out as well.

“That’s an interesting name.” Glenn smiled at her as he shook her hand.

“This way.” Rick walked into the prison with Jolene and Clementine behind him.

They walked in as the rest of the group was sitting down talking amongst themselves.

“Everyone this is Jolene and Clementine. They saved Daryl and I earlier today. That’s Carol and her daughter Sophia, Hershel and his two daughters Beth and Maggie, Andrea, Shane, my son Carl and my wife Lori.” Rick introduced everyone.

Jolene wondered for a split second why Rick mentioned his son but not wife when they met but she was more concerned with the dirty looks she got from Shane and Lori. They tried not to show it but Jolene knew right off the bat that they did not want her there.

“Great, two more mouths to feed. You’re really going to trust a stranger?” Shane got up and walked up to Rick.

“Shane’s right, we don’t know her and what she’s capable of.” Lori held on to Carl.

“She’s earned her spot and it’s not up to you; I make the calls now remember?” Rick confronted Shane. Rick knew he would have trouble with him but he wouldn’t let him call the shots anymore.

Jolene knew this would bring trouble to his group and she didn’t want anything to do with it. Jolene grabbed Clementine’s hand and walked back out of the prison.

“What are you doing?” Clementine questioned Jolene.

“Leaving.” She walked toward the gate.

“Shane givin you hell?” Daryl walked up to them with Glenn by his side.

Jolene ignored them and kept walking.

“We can’t go.” Clementine persisted.

“Jolene!” Rick hollered out as he walked out of the prison and saw her walking away.

Clementine looked back and saw Rick jogging after them but Jolene did not stop walking.

“Hey.” Rick blocked her path. “Where are you going?”

“Anywhere but here.” She walked away from him.

“Shane won’t be an issue. You don’t need to worry about him.” Rick held on to her shoulder. “You can’t go back out there, it’s too dangerous. You need to trust me, I gave you my word.”

“Shane gets under everyone’s skin. You’ll learn to block it.” Glenn interjected.

“You two can stay in cell block C. Follow me.” Rick walked back into the prison.

Jolene didn’t move a muscle but Clementine grabbed her hand and followed Rick into the cell block.

“You two should be comfortable in here, I know its not luxurious but you’ll be able to get a good night’s rest. Make yourselves at home.”

“Thank you.” Clementine looked up to Rick.

“You’re welcome Clementine.”

Clementine walked into the cell with Jolene and unpacked their back packs. Rick stood there for a moment looking at Jolene. He didn’t know what to think of her yet. She has a story and he wanted to hear it. He wanted to flip all the pages in her book and know everything about her. He was mesmerized by her presence and didn't want to stop looking at her but he forced himself to walk away and give them their space.

Clementine sat down on the small metal cot and smiled. She was happy that she finally gets to sleep on a bed tonight.

“It’s hot in here ain’t it?” Jolene fanned her right hand to circulate fresh air to her face.

“Yeah but it’s better than sleeping outside.”

“I guess it is. You wanna go outside for some fresh air?” Jolene suggested.

“We’re not leaving are we?”

“No, I just need air.”

Clementine got off the bed and walked out of the cell block and outside to the prison yard with Jolene. Rick saw them exit the door from the corner of his eye and jogged after them with a pencil and notebook in hand.

“Jolene?” Rick called out looking around.

“Yeah?” Jolene answered.

Rick turned to his right and saw Jolene and Clementine leaning against the wall of the prison.

“Just uh…”

“Thought I was trying to leave again?” Jolene interrupted.

Rick didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Just needed some air. It’s really warm inside.”

“Well if Beth’s calendar is correct it’s June.” Rick walked over to Clementine and bent down to her level. “Sophia thought you could use this?” Rick handed her the notebook and pencil.

“Thank you.” She smiled at Rick. “Can I go back in my cell?” Clementine looked to Jolene.

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Jolene nodded and Clementine walked into the prison.

“So you gonna keep your eyes on me?” She looked to Rick.

“Do I have to?”

“No, I guess not. I still don’t want to be here but I have to for Clementine sake.”

“You’ll like it here.” Rick reassured her as he was finally calming down from the headache that Shane and Lori had caused him.

Jolene closed her eyes as she relaxed her back against the cold concrete of the prison and Rick took that time to really look at her. His eyes looked up and down at her body. He’s a married man and knew that he shouldn’t be looking at her that way but he couldn’t help himself. Something about her pulled him in. He had so many questions he wanted to ask her but didn’t want to ambush her with that at the moment.


	5. We all got a Past

“How do you two know each other?” Andrea decided to ask Jolene the question everyone was thinking during dinner.

“She saved me. I was attacked by bitters and she was hiding in a tree. She tossed me her pocket knife and now we’re here.”

“Bitters? Clever, we call them walkers.” Andrea took another bite of her food.

“Walkers? That actually sounds a lot better than calling them bitters. Ima start using that.”

“What did you do before the world ended?” Hershel questioned.

Jolene sat there quietly and looked down to her food. She was hoping questions about her past didn’t come up but it couldn’t be avoided. The group stared at her, waiting for an answer. Rick's eyes were glued on Jolene, he couldn't help himself, he wanted to hear everything she had to say and Lori noticed the look on his face. Shane noticed that Lori noticed how Rick reacted in front of Jolene and Shane came to the conclusion that the reason why Rick fought for her to stay in the group is because he wanted her.

“Any reason why you don’t want to talk about your past?” Lori asked waiting for an answer that she could attack Jolene with.

“Lori.” Rick stared hard at Lori. He didn’t want her to drive Jolene away. 

Shane and Lori stared at her and knew something about her just didn’t fit right. They knew it was tough for anyone to talk about the past when everyone you know is basically dead but they saw something different in her. Lori couldn't stand Rick being around her and Shane could automatically tell it was guilt. She was guilty of something and he wanted to know what it was.

“I uh.” She swallowed her saliva as a knot crossed her throat. “I was a mechanic.”

“So you know your cars?” Shane wanted confirmation.

“Yeah, I uh, started working on cars since I was eight. Family was pretty broke so we had to fend for ourselves. My brother taught me what he knew, said it was going to be an important skill as I got older…I guess he was right.”

“You should help me on my car tomorrow, could use the help.” Shane suggested. He wanted to interrogate her in private because he knew if he did it now Rick would stop him.

“Sure, anything to pull my weight around here.” Jolene calmly accepted but was a nervous wreck inside.

“What happened to your family, do you have kids?” Sophia pushed her plate of food away.

Everyone looked to Jolene waiting for an answer. Jolene cleared her throat, she didn’t want to answer any of the questions the group was asking. How could she forget her past if these people kept asking about it.

“Can’t you see she doesn’t want to talk about it.” Carl looked to Sophia.

“It’s uh, it’s okay.” Jolene sighed. “No kids, my husband and I were trying. Turns out I’m to blame on why I can’t get pregnant. My mom died when I turned eighteen and my brother got emancipated and left when I was fourteen, never seen him since.”

“No daddy?” Sophia asked again.

“Sophia.” Carol looked down to her with a face that told her to be quiet as she pushed the plate of food back to Sophia for her to finish eating.

“Yeah, in Vegas from what my mom always ranted about. Never met him. I just um, don’t have many great memories so I try not to think about my family.”

Rick stared at Jolene, he knew she was feeling uncomfortable with all the questions but he was hoping she would say more about herself.

“Where were you holding up before you saved Rick and Daryl?” Maggie was curious to know. “I’m sorry about the questions…”

“It’s okay. I’m a stranger, you guys are just curious.” Jolene interrupted Maggie. “A man…Philip found me, took me into his small community of survivors in Woodbury. It was paradise.”

“What happened?” Beth questioned.

“Philip had too much to drink…he uh, tried to have his way with me and I ran. His right hand man Martinez, my only friend there told me right before I left that they would find me and…and um…I know what he’s capable of doing now, I know the truth. I should’ve know once he declared a new name for himself.”

“What was that name?” Glenn asked.

“The Governor.”

“Where did he find you?” Andrea dusted the crumbs off her shirt.

“I uh…” Jolene looked down to her food and her appetite diminished. “I don’t…I…I don’t want to talk about it.” Jolene got up on both feet and sighed deeply. “May I be excused?”

“Sure.” Hershel excused her.

Jolene walked out of the prison cafeteria and outside to the prison yard. She stood out there for a few minutes looking at the summer sun slowly disappearing into the night, trying to clear her thoughts.

“You okay?” Rick slowly walked over to Jolene.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She faked a smiled.

“Sorry about the group bombarding you with all those questions.”

“You guys are curious, it’s normal to ask away.” Jolene stared at the sunset.

“If you ever need to vent…”

“Thanks, but I’m okay.” Jolene interrupted.

“Anything about yourself you don’t mind sharing?” Rick slightly pushed the question bar, he just wanted to know more about the strange woman.

Jolene stood there quiet, discarding all the bad memories and trying to think of the good ones. “Hawkeye.”

Rick slightly tilted his head to the right with curiosity.

“My doberman. Only thing in the world that I loved more than chocolate and flowers.”

Rick chuckled at the name she gave her dog.

“He was probably smarter than me; well trained and howled along to the music I would blare. He would hit the notes too, that dog was a better singer than me.” Jolene smiled.

Rick was quickly captivated by her smile. The curves of her smile, the way the sunset lit up her brown eyes with blood orange and the natural waves in her hair seduced his eyes.

“I’m sure you’re not that bad at singing.” Rick assured, quickly glancing down at her body.

Jolene stopped avoiding eye contact and finally realized the color of his eyes. Piercing blue and it stunned her a bit. Her stomach overflowed with anxiety. She looked back to the sunset; she didn’t want to lock eyes for long.

“You and Lori…felt a lot of tension going on there.” Jolene leaned her back on the prison wall.

Rick exhaled and leaned his back to the wall next to her. “Long story.”

“I could go for a good drama story.” She looked back at Rick.

“Shane and Lori…”

“Say no more, I know the story now.”

Rick glared at Jolene as she interrupted him.

“Somethin happened between them and you know, they know that you know. The vibes and looks that I’ve felt and seen tell me that she doesn’t know what she wants. You’re her husband and she’s forced to stick by your side but Shane gave her something you didn’t. Marriage is on the rocks and it looks like you’re the only one trying to save the ship from sinking.” Jolene jabbered.

Rick couldn’t believe she got the story down with the very little information she had.

“I take it by the look on your face I’m right.” She sighed.

“You’re good.”

“I know how people think and I've been around people like Shane. Why do you let him stay here?”

“We were partners, was my best friend. Took care of my family when I got shot. They thought I was dead. I know Shane and Lori wish...”

“Wait, they thought you were dead and Shane is an officer as well?”

“Yeah he is. He was there with me on a high speed chase. Didn’t see one of the bastards in the car and got shot. I was in a coma and woke up not knowing about the walkers, took me a while but I found my family thanks to Glenn.”

“Shit, you were in a coma? And you still managed to find your family? Wow.”

“There’s strength in people. People are the best defense against walkers. We all need to work together no matter how much pain Shane and Lori cause and how much animosity I’m starting to feel. Anything to keep Carl safe.”

“You got balls.” Jolene inhaled the summer air. She felt Rick’s pain, she understood what he's going through.

“Well not everyone here thinks so.” Rick’s right hand rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well screw them…no offense. I can see these people look to you for answers; keep them safe, I admire that. It was the reason why I stood by Philips side all that time even when I knew something was up. There are two types of leaders, the lawful good and power hungry...and Philip was power hungry. You, I can see that you are not like him and I'm glad you're not. What you're doing, taking leadership, it can’t be an easy job.” Jolene looked back into his eyes.

Rick smirked; he was elated that she was on his side.

They stood there next to each other in silence, looking at the sunset. Jolene stretched her arms and Rick took notice of the visible scar on her right shoulder.

“What happened to your shoulder?”

Jolene’s left hand covered the scar and quickly closed herself from Rick. “Nothing.”

Rick stood quiet, he felt like an idiot for asking. They both stood there and looked at the few scattered walkers making their way to the fence.

“Ima check in on Clementine.” Jolene marched into the prison.

Jolene found Clementine in Carol’s cell along with Carl and Sophia.

“We’re going to have story time; you’re welcome to join us.” Carol offered.

“Maybe next time, just wanted to check in on Clementine.” Clementine smiled at Jolene as she handed a book to Carol. “When you’re done there come back our cell okay.”

“Okay.” Clementine answered.

Jolene walked to her cell and sat on the small bed with her back to the cell door. She picked up the hunting knife and noticed it was losing its sharpness as she touched the blade.

Daryl walked up to her cell and saw Jolene looking at her blade. He quickly looked her up and down and couldn’t deny that she was attractive but nothing more crossed his mind. He wasn’t about to make a move on a woman who’s obviously been through a lot.

“You seen Sophia?” Daryl finally spoke after staring at her for a moment.

“Uh, she’s with Carol in her cell.” Jolene quickly got off the bed and turned to him.

Daryl quickly debated if he should strike up a conversation.

“You alright?” He questioned. He didn't want to just leave, it would've been rude to not ask he thought to himself.

“Yeah, I’m fine” She looked down to the knife. “Hey you wouldn’t happen to have one of those knife sharpening stones would you?”

Daryl walked into her cell and took the knife out of her hand. His index and middle fingers ran through the blade, feeling the dullness of it and put it in his pants pocket.

“This will suit you better.” He pulled out his hunting knife and handed it to her.

“I can’t take…”

“Just take it.”

“Thank you.” She grabbed it from his hand.

“Don’t let Lori and Shane get to you. Bunch of drama queens. We all got a past, far as I know, you earned your stay here.” Daryl mentioned before he disappeared.


	6. Practice

The Next Day

Shane dropped the hood of the car as he finished tuning it up with Jolene.

“What are you hiding?” Shane bluntly confronted.

“What?”

Rick and Daryl walked out of the prison to talk to Shane about the next run into town but Rick stopped Daryl from walking before Shane and Jolene could see them. Rick wanted to see how Jolene handles herself with Shane.

“You don’t want to talk about yourself and the past, tells me you’re hiding somethin.” Shane took a step closer to her.

“Not everyone gets to live the good life. What am I supposed to say? Tell you about my fucked up family, how they never cared for me, that I had to fend for myself my whole life, how many times I’ve almost died, how my self esteem was so low that everyone took advantage of me in ways I wish I could forget, how I tried to kill myself because I was so fuckin depressed? Is that what you want me to tell you Shane? I don’t want to talk about my past because there is nothing good about it!” She poured her heart out.

“You wanna talk about hiding something? Secrets? How about the secret you’re keeping from Rick? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s going on between you and Lori and I’ve only been here a day. Rick ain’t stupid, he knows how fucked up you are. Some friend you are putting Carl at odds with his mother and father.” Jolene tossed the dirty rag she wiped her grimy hands with at Shane’s chest and stomped away from him.

Jolene wasn’t lying but she didn’t tell him everything, just enough to get him off her back. She didn’t tell him the one thing she knew Shane would make a big deal of about her past. Rick wanted to comfort her but he didn’t want to make it obvious that he eased dropped on her conversation.

Jolene was on her way to her cell when Maggie stopped her.

“Hey Jolene? The girls and I are doing our nails; did you want to join us?”

“Uh, sure.”

Jolene walked with Maggie to the other side of the prison and sat down next to Beth.

“Jolene, look at my nails.” Clementine raised her pink fingernails in the air to show them off.

“Hope its okay?” Beth looked to Jolene uncertain of her reaction that she painted Clementine’s nails without permission.

“Totally fine with me. I wasn’t aware people still paint their nails these days.” Jolene smiled.

“Went on a run with Glenn the other day, didn’t find much but found some nail polish and hair products, figure we could all use it.” Maggie handed me a small cardboard box of nail polish.

“The girls huh? Why isn’t Lori here?” Jolene questioned. She was glad Lori wasn’t around but was curious to know why.

“She went to go find Shane.” Carol answered. Carol knew what that ment. Just another excuse for Lori to fool around behind Rick’s back.

Jolene, Carol, Andrea, Maggie, Beth, Clementine and Sophia were sitting in a circle exchanging stories of the good old days. They mostly talked about the foods they missed eating, music they listened to, movies and of course boys.

Rick and Glenn walked in the room the girls were in and smiled. Rick was glad to see Jolene spending time with the group and Glenn was glad to see a smile on Maggie’s face.

“Glenn, Daryl and I are going on a run tomorrow.” Rick announced to the girls.

“I’m goin.” Maggie looked to Rick and Glenn wondering why they didn’t mention her name.

“No you’re not. It was a close call last time. I’ll feel a lot better if you just stay here.” Glenn expressed his decision.

“Glenn…”

“Please.” Glenn interrupted Maggie.

“Okay.” Maggie got up and walked over to Glenn. She kissed his cheek and left the room. “Be right back!” She informed the girls.

“Three? Might as well make it a four man team, I’ll tag along.” Jolene got up and looked to Rick.

“We can handle it…”

“I’m going.” Jolene confirmed. “You can’t expect me to be locked in a prison for the rest of my days now do you?” She walked past Rick and out of the room. “I’m goin.” Her voice echoed through the prison Halls.

Jolene walked outside and saw Daryl from a distance working on a Motorcycle. “You need any help?” She wondered over to him.

“Just about done already. Can you hand me that rag on the floor?”

Jolene reached down and tossed the oily rag to Daryl. He wiped his hands down and took a few steps towards Jolene. “Shane givin you hell huh?”

“Hell’s an understatement. The whole time with him was a kick in the balls if I had any.”

Daryl chuckled at her statement. “He’s just tryin to break you, run ya outta here.”

“I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Clementine. I wasn’t sure if I could trust you people. There are some pretty sadistic people out there.” Jolene looked down to the ground where his crossbow laid. “You think you could show me how to work it?”

Daryl looked into Jolene’s eyes and saw she was looking at his crossbow. “You think you can handle somethin that big?”

Jolene felt herself turn red and couldn’t help but smirk at how that sounded. Daryl briefly chuckled, he knew where her mind was by the look on her face.

“I guess we’ll just have to see.” Jolene quickly looked up and down at Daryl as he looked down to his crossbow. She couldn’t help but look at his arms. Very strong and smooth looking.

“Hey Jolene, my dad wants you to come with us to gun practice.” Carl yelled out as he stood a few feet away from Jolene then walked away.

“I guess you’ll have to show me how to work it later?” Jolene flashed a flirty smile at Daryl before she walked away from him.

Daryl couldn’t help but look at her walk away. Her long hair and the way her hips moved paralyzed him. He wondered if she was talking about the crossbow or if she meant something else.

Jolene, Rick, Carl, Lori, Shane, Andrea, Beth, and Carol were quite a distance away from the prison. Rick didn’t want to attract walkers with the gun shots and thought it best to get out of the prison for practice.

Andrea was showing Beth and Carol how to use the guns before they started shooting and Lori stood behind Shane as Shane was teaching Carl how to aim better. Lori complained about how Carl was not ready for a gun but Shane and Rick disregarded her reasons. Shane and Rick knew it was important for Carl to know how to shoot.

Jolene pulled out her gun and Rick took it out of her hands. He checked the cylinder of her gun and saw only one bullet left. He pulled out his Colt Python and handed it over to Jolene. Rick showed her exactly how to use it and when the safety was on. Jolene then turned to the cans and bottles that were lying on an old wooden fence and shot at one. She missed the target and was quickly engulfed with disappointment. Lori saw her miss and smiled at her bad aiming.

“Focus now.” Rick positioned himself behind Jolene.

Rick found the perfect excuse to get close and touch Jolene. He wrapped his arms around her and his hands firmly moved her hands that held on to his gun up an inch.

“Breath in and exhale when you pull the trigger.” Rick’s voice tickled Jolene’s right ear. She loved the way his chest pressed up against her back and his smooth voice lingered in her ear.

Rick took advantage of the moment to quickly look down her black tank top. Two seconds of looking down her top and he knew he had to let go even though he didn’t want to. Jolene couldn’t help but shiver as Rick let go of her. She liked the way his arms and strong hands held on to her.

Jolene felt Lori’s eyes on her but shook it off to concentrate. She inhaled and pulled the trigger as she exhaled.

“There you go.” Rick smiled at Jolene.

Jolene repeated the step and pulled the trigger again. All five rounds went through the cans perfectly. They all stood out there for a good while firing into the targets as Rick kept an eye on Jolene and Carl.

“You learn quickly.” Rick paid her a compliment.

“Well I got a great teacher.” Jolene smiled to Rick as she reloaded the gun.

Rick walked over to Carl to see how he was doing and Jolene noticed the dirty looks on Lori’s face.

“Good shot Jolene!” Beth called out to her.

Jolene smiled to Beth and quietly slipped away from the group and back to the prison. Glenn was on look out and opened the gate for her.

“Rest of the group still practicing?” Glenn questioned.

“Yeah, just needed to get away.” Jolene helped close the gate.

“Shane and Lori giving you a hard time?”

“I can handle them. Where’s Clementine?”

“In the cafeteria with Sophia and Daryl.”

“I’ma go check up on her.” Jolene walked away from Glenn.

Jolene stood by the open door of the cafeteria and looked in. Daryl, Sophia, and Clementine were sitting down making paper airplanes. Clementine was giggling, Sophia was smiling and Daryl had a small smile on his face.

“Throw it!” Clementine looked up to Daryl. 

He got up and threw the airplane. It crashed down to the floor without going far and Clementine and Sophia laughed at his attempt.

“Aw man!” Daryl laughed at how bad he was at making it fly.

“Hi Joe!” Clementine looked to Jolene as she threw her airplane.

“I got a nick name now?”

“Daryl came up with it.” Clementine giggled.

“Hey, you ratted me out.” Daryl looked to Clementine and all she did was innocently giggle with Sophia.

“How was practice?” Daryl walked up to Jolene and leaned his shoulder on the cafeteria door.

“Good, pretty much got my aim down. Didn’t take you for a babysitter.” Jolene smirked.

“Badass at day, babysitter by evenin.” Daryl smirked back.

“So what are you at night?” Jolene looked him up and down knowing he would notice her look.

“Maybe you’ll find out.” Daryl softly replied. He now knew that Jolene was flirting and even though he liked it he wasn’t sure if he should cross the line with her. He knew how Carol felt about him even though she never made it clear and he didn’t want to be in the middle of anything.

“Find out what?” Carol interjected.

“If it's a full moon tonight.” Jolene quickly lied.

“I guess you'll have to wait and find out.” Carol replied.

“Hey Clem, let’s go do your hair.” Jolene motioned her hand towards herself.

“Clem?”

“If I get a nick name so are you.” Jolene smiled.


	7. Someone to Confide in

*****Jolene’s dream*****  
“No!” Jolene screamed her lungs out as The Governor was shooting everyone in the prison. “Rick! Clementine!” Jolene looked to them in terror as The Governor walked up to them and shot them in the head. “No!” 

“You should know better, running only takes you so far until it catches up with you again.” The Governor pushed Jolene up against the wall, squeezing her neck tightly. Jolene gasped for air, she felt herself fading.

“You killed them, you killed them all. You brought this upon yourself for being the coward that you are!” The Governors voice echoed through her barely conscious ears.  
“Jolene!”  
*******

 

“Jolene!”

Jolene immediately jumped out of her bed and pulled the knife out from under her pillow.

“Jolene, hey, it’s okay. It was just a dream.” Glenn gently touched her shoulder to calm her down.

Jolene stood by her bed, panting in cold sweat. “Wha, what?”

“It was just a dream.” Glenn moved his hand off her and took a step back.

“Right…right, yeah, I know. You’re okay, Rick’s okay, Clementine’s okay, it…it’s just a dream. I know that.” Jolene rubbed her hands down her face, wiping off the cold sweat.

“Came to tell you we’re leaving in a while so you might want to get ready. Can I get you anything?”

“No, no, I’m fine. I’ll be out in a few.” Jolene turned her back to Glenn and grabbed her clothes to get ready for the day.

Jolene walked outside to the prison yard after she freshened up and bumped into Rick.

“Hey Rick, I forgot to give this back to you yesterday.” She pulled out his Colt Python and handed it to him.

“Hold on to it, you’ll need it for today.”

“Okay. Are we all ready to go?” Jolene looked into his eyes.

“Daryl’s checking the car, should be ready in a few minutes. You sure you wanna come with us? I would feel better if you stayed here.”

“I’m sure; it’s a beautiful day for a run.” Jolene looked up to the blue sky with her right hand hovering over her eyebrows to block the sun in her eyes.

Rick couldn’t help but stare at her, the way the sun lit her up. His eyes had a mind of their own, he just had to gaze down at her body as she was looking up to the sky. He didn’t want her to go for safety reasons but was glad to have her by his side.

“Rick, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I think Clementine should learn how to use a gun. I’m not saying that she should have one but to know the mechanics of it. I know she’s young but I think I’ll feel a lot better if she knew. You never know, anything can happen. Do you think you can show her?”

“You want me to teach her?”

“Well, yeah. You’re a great teacher, you taught me well.” Jolene looked to him.

Rick nodded slightly. “Okay.”

“Rick, can I talk to you?” Lori popped out of nowhere and stood right in front of Rick.

“Do you mind?” Lori looked to Jolene, hinting her to give them their privacy.

“Yeah, I kinda do mind. You can take your conversation somewhere else. It’s a huge prison, I was here first.” Jolene stood up for herself.

Lori couldn’t believe what she just said. “Rick.” Lori looked to Rick waiting for him to defend her.

“Don’t.” Jolene looked to Rick as he was about to speak. “I’m not leaving because of you…” Jolene now stared at Lori. “I’m leaving because I need to talk to Clementine.” Jolene walked past Lori and out of their vision.

“Clementine?” Jolene walked behind her as she was sitting down on the concrete floor, coloring in her notebook.

“I drew you something Joe." Clementine ripped out a page from the notebook and handed it to her. “It’s all of us, our new family.”

Jolene stared at the drawing. She drew everyone in the prison. “That’s beautiful Clem. Ima keep it forever.” Jolene folded the drawing and put it in her pants pocket. “Sweetheart, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I think you should learn how to use a gun.”

“I don’t want to.” Clementine continued to color.

“I know, I’m not a big fan of you using a gun either but…”

“I used one before, I don’t want to use it again and I don’t want you to go. Why can’t you just stay here with me?” Clementine looked up to Jolene.

Jolene didn’t know how to respond to that. This was just too new for her; she didn’t know how to talk to children and was a little on edge on the fact that Clementine admitted to using a gun before. “Okay, so you used a gun before and I know you probably don’t want to talk about it but you know I won’t judge you right. If you need to talk I’m here for you and I have to go out there.”

“No you don’t. You can just stay here. No one is forcing you to go.”

“I have to go for reasons you don’t understand, I…”

*Whistle* “Ready to go?” Daryl hollered out to Jolene.

Jolene looked out to Daryl then back to Clementine.

“Can I get a hug?” Jolene bent down to her level.

Clementine got up and gave Jolene a quick hug then went back to coloring. Jolene knew she was upset but didn’t know what else to do or say.

“Please come back.” Clementine turned her page and continued drawing.

“You know I’ll be back.” Jolene looked at her for another second before she walked away.

-Town-

“Daryl and Glenn will hit North, Jolene and I will take south. We’ll meet back here in two hours.” Rick glanced down at his wrist watch as he gave orders.

Rick and Jolene walked into Adventure Plus, a hunting store and carefully checked around the place for any walkers. Jolene opened the back door for employees and a walker stumbled forward to her, completely startling her. “Fuck!”

“Jolene!” Rick yelled as he ran over to her.

Jolene griped her knife tight, pushed the walker up against the wall and stabbed the walker in the middle of its skull.

Rick stood there out of breath, glad that she wasn’t hurt.

“I got it.” Jolene looked to Rick like it was no big deal and wiped her knife on the shirt of the dead again walker.

“Looks like we’re in the clear now.” Rick verified as he walked into the back room. “Let’s take what’s worth taking.”

Jolene walked around the store looking for anything useful. People have obviously been in this store already, all the weapons and anything worth taking were taken off the shelves and walls. She moved shelves and tipped over boxes but nothing was worth taking.

She casually walked over to the clothes section. Not many people thought about taking the clothes off the rack so Jolene looked through them. She figured she could use more clothes since the ones she has now are ripping and covered with stains.

She turned around to see where Rick was. He was still in the back room, out of her sight so she quickly emptied her pants pocket, took them off and exchanged them for black skinny jeans. She picked up her wallet and picture that Clementine drew for her and put them in the pockets of her new pants.

She then looked around for a shirt. She turned back around to make sure Rick wasn’t there. She took off her tank top and tossed it to the floor, leaving her black bra on. She picked out a white tank top and a cute short sleeve cotton shirt.

Rick walked out of the back room and stopped in his tracks as he saw Jolene without a top on. He was in awe. He stared at Jolene’s naked back and quickly took notice of the tattoo on her lower back. He was surprised to find out she had a tattoo and was even more surprised to see her changing. He knew he was invading her privacy but couldn’t help it, he liked what he saw. He felt himself getting excited by her long pony tail, black bra straps and the tattoo that he desperately wanted to touch. The things he wanted to do to her was clouding his right judgement to look away.

Jolene started to feel like she was being watched and knew it was Rick. She felt herself blush, she knew his eyes were on her and she didn’t do anything about it. She found herself being turned on by the thrill of being watched by a sexy married man. She slowly adjusted her bra straps for show then reached over for the tank top and put it on.

“Find anything?” Rick finally spoke once she was clothed.

“Um, nothing.” She turned to Rick. “Looks like this place has been raided already. I just figured I could use some new clothes.” She put on the shirt and buttoned it up half ways.

“I uh.” Rick cleared his throat as he walked over to her trying not to make it obvious of what he just saw. “Found a gun and four crossbow arrows that Daryl will be happy about.”

“Well let’s not let this place go to waste, you should get a few shirts and pants. I think we could all use some new clothes. You know Carl’s size right?”

“Yeah.”

“There are some cute shirts over there, Lori might like them.” Jolene pointed out as she walked over to the shoe section.

“Lori was pretty pissed.” Rick followed Jolene.

“When is she not?” She mumbled to herself as she took off her shoes and exchanged them for boots.

“I yelled at her.” Rick sighed. “I didn’t want to but she kept pushing my buttons.”

Jolene looked up to Rick as she was fixing her boots. They were still strangers to each other and she was surprised to hear him opening up to her about his marriage.

“She bad mouthed you, told me I’m putting everyone in danger by bringing you in.”

“You shouldn’t have yelled.” Jolene stood up and looked to Rick. “I don’t need you to defend me. If she bad mouths me then let her. I couldn’t care less.”

“I couldn’t help it, the nasty things she said about you, told me I couldn’t keep my own son safe, that I don’t care about our marriage.” He felt himself slowly losing faith everyday with Lori’s attitude and actions towards him.

“Rick, she’s your wife; if you defend another woman of course she’s going to get angry. I’m a big girl, I can defend myself but as for everything else she said, I think you need to take her into a room alone and talk everything out, yell at each other if you have to but don’t leave the room until she gives you a legit answer. She can’t have you and Shane on the side. What Lori is doing is not fair to Carl. I don’t know your story well but I think that’s what you need to do. She’s obviously lost sight of who she has in front of her. Yes, I don’t know you well but you seem like a great guy. A loving father, caring, strong, brave, level headed, sexy man.” Jolene quickly swallowed the knot in her throat as she realized she said sexy when she meant to say handsome.

She tried to play it off cool, hoping he wouldn’t say anything about it. She didn’t want him to know what she was starting to feel for him. Even though they had just met the other day she already knew he was not like any other man.

Jolene caught a glimpse of a few holsters and turned away from Rick. She grabbed a leg holster and wrapped it around her right leg, pulled out Rick’s gun and put it away on the holster along with her hunting knife.

Rick stared at her. He loved the style of clothing she picked out, how badass she looked with the holster wrapped around her leg and now he couldn’t stop thinking about everything she said. He was starting to wish he wasn’t married.

“I overheard your conversation with Shane.” Rick confessed. He didn’t feel right hiding anything from her.

Jolene turned around and looked to Rick as he was walking over to her. “I’m sorry about your past.”

Jolene looked down to the floor in deep thought. “Yeah, well…I guess you have some questions huh?”

“No.” Rick stared deep into her eyes. “I won’t badger you with questions but I’m hoping you’ll come to me if you ever wanna to talk.” Rick walked away and started picking out clothes for Carl.


	8. Jealousy

Jolene stepped one foot out of the hunting store and was suddenly pulled out and put into a choke hold. Jolene quickly wrapped her right leg around the man’s leg, bent forward and used all her strength to flip him over. The man landed hard on his back, groaning in pain and she kicked his face, striking his mouth. She finally got a good look at the man and couldn’t believe who it was.

“Jensen?” Jolene stared at him in disbelief.

Rick pointed his gun to the man’s face and cocked it

“You gonna tell your boyfriend to put his gun down?” Jensen spit out blood from the kick in the face and looked at Rick from the corner of his eyes. He just realized who he had almost hurt.

Jolene without saying a word laid her hand over Rick’s gun. Rick glared at her in confusion.

Jolene reached out, grabbed his hand and pulled him up, brining him in for an emotional hug.

“Your husband?” Rick questioned.

“Oh God no.” Jolene released the hug and looked to Rick. “Best friend. Rick, Jensen. Jensen, Rick.” Jolene introduced them to each other.

“Jensen what are you doing out here?” She looked to him.

“Same as you. Lookin for anything to keep me alive?”

“Are you alone?”

“Yeah, I took off four days ago from a group. After I stood up for myself and told them what they were doing was wrong things got pretty violent.”

“Jolene, can I have a word?” Rick gripped her wrist and pulled her off to the side.

“Rick, I have to go. He and I go way back and I can’t leave him alone. He’s the only person who’s ever been there for me and I can’t abandon him. I appreciate you takin me in but…”

“You’re leaving?” Rick slightly raised his voice. “Look, Jolene…”

“Shane and Lori are already bitchin to you about me joining your group. I don’t want to bring anymore trouble to you.”

“They don’t have a say on this, I’m just…” Rick was starting to get frustrated, he already knew he wouldn’t like Jensen but he didn’t want to lose Jolene. “We’ll make it work.” Rick persisted; he was going to compromise until she would stay.

“I can’t do that, Shane…”

“Screw Shane, we’ll make it work.” Rick glanced over at Jensen. He hated this, he wanted Jolene all to himself and he knew it was selfish but couldn’t help his feelings.

The car ride back to the prison felt like an eternity for Rick. He would glance back at Jensen from the rear view mirror like if he stole Jolene from him. Rick interrogated him as calmly as possible to make it sound like he was just striking up conversation but he was trying to find anything about him to cast him out. Rick hated the fact that he seemed to be pretty normal. Daryl and Glenn asked a few questions themselves and accepted Jensen’s responses.

“Who’s that?” Shane walked out of the prison, putting on that macho, bad ass act.

“Jensen. He’s going to be pulling his weight. Jolene vouched for him and I vouch for Jolene’s judgment.”

Shane smirked angrily as he scratched the back of his head. “This group has been through hell and you’re gonna let it happen again Rick! You can’t trust them, you don’t know them!”

Hershel was outside listening to the commotion and walked up to Jensen. “Let me take a look at that.” Hershel insisted when he noticed his swollen, dried up bloody lip from Jolene’s kick. Hershel escorted Jensen into the prison and Jolene followed, leaving Rick and Shane to battle it out as Lori was snooping in on them.

Jolene walked to her cell and saw Clementine sitting down on the bed with her back to the door, staring down at something in her lap.

“Clementine?” Jolene whispered as she walked over and sat down next to her.

Clementine quickly hid what she was holding under the pillow. Jolene caught a glimpse of what it was; it was the photo that she saw Clementine drop when they first met. Jolene pulled out her wallet from her back pocket, opened it and pulled out a picture.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to show me your picture.” Jolene stared at her picture. “Pictures were my obsession. I wanted to be a photographer but things got in the way. Hawkeye, my dog…” Jolene handed her the picture of her dog Hawkeye. “He was the only thing in the world that I loved. I know he’s just a dog but it hurts just as bad to lose him.”

Clementine gazed at the picture of the dog then pulled out the picture she hid under the pillow and handed it over to Jolene. “I saved Lee like I saved you. He took care of me when my parents never came back.” Clementine looked down in sorrow.

Jolene didn’t want to ask any questions about him. If Clementine wants to talk about it then she will but she respected her feelings if she didn’t talk about it. “He looked like a good man.” She stared at the picture.

They sat there in their own silence mourning over the past for a moment.

“Clem, I’m not gonna sugar coat it. The decisions we make now determine how we live. No more kid stuff. People are gonna die. Everyone in this group is going to die and I’m going to die. There's now way you could ever be ready for it. We can’t stop it from happening, you just need to accept it and try to be ready for it. There comes a time in your life when you are faced with a tough decision and you need to know how to handle it. Please understand that you need to know how to handle a gun. Anything can happen at any time and you need to be ready for it because it’s the only way to survive now. I know it’s scary but I’ll be right there by your side for as long as I keep breathing. We pinky promised, remember?”

Clementine sat there listening to Jolene’s words with tears rolling down her face. She knew what she was saying was true but she just kept hoping it wasn’t, that she will wake up in her bed and her parents would tell her everything is okay.

“Okay.” She whispered.

One Week Later - Dusk

Jolene was killing walkers by the fence with Glenn, Maggie and Andrea. After they got rid of the majority around the fence they decided to call it a day except for Jolene. She stood behind stabbing every walker that got close to the fence.

“Joe?” Hershel crept up behind her.

Jolene and Hershel have spent some time together lately. In some way you can say they were bonding. He taught her how to tend to the crops and animals and all the medical knowledge he can teach her.

“Yeah.” Jolene turned to him.

“You should come inside, take a break, get a drink of water. You’re going to wear yourself out especially being in the sun all day. Daryl came back with a huge buck, should be ready about now. You need to eat.”

Jolene ignored his caring nature. “How was your day?” She asked.

“Jensen helped me with the crops today. We got tomatoes ready to go.” Hershel didn’t know why she would ask about his day but he humored her and answered.

Jolene walked up to another roaming walker that came close to the fence and stabbed it in the skull. “Killing all these walkers would go a lot faster if I was on the other side.” She mumbled to herself.

“Rick won’t allow it.”

“Well I guess I’ll have a talk with the officer on patrol then.” Jolene walked past Hershel to find Rick.

Jolene couldn’t just stand around doing nothing. She needed to keep herself busy, to keep her mind distracted. She hated the fact that she was starting to develop feelings for Rick. She wished his marriage would fail so she could get a shot with him and she hated herself for thinking that. She was happy that her best friend Jensen is alive but was angry at Shane and Lori for making them feel like outcasts.

“Joe.” Jensen walked over to her. “You okay? You’ve been at the fence all day. Aren’t you tired?”

“I’m fine.” She looked into his hazel eyes.

A silence hit them both. Jensen knew her to well; he knew she was just trying to keep busy to distract herself from the problems bearing down on her.

“I went to your house…you weren’t there.” Jolene confessed.

“I found out the police found you. Went down to the station to see you but you weren’t there. When I got home I found my wife…” Jensen hesitated to finish. His first encounter with a walker was his wife; she ate their Golden Retriever, the dog Jolene saw in the middle of the living room that day. “Didn’t they have you behind bars? How’d you get out?”

“I managed to escape.”

“I hate to ask…I didn’t want to bring any of it up but do these people know about it? Shane keeps asking a lot of questions about you and me and everything about our past like he knows something is up.”

“They don’t know. There’s no point of telling them. Shane and Lori don’t trust me already; I don’t need the rest of the group to feel that way.”

“I’m sure if you do tell them they’ll understand. It…”

“No!” Jolene interrupted. “What happened in the past stays in the past, what matters is who we are now and what we do to survive. I got a little girl in there who trusted me with her life. I’m going to do what it takes to keep her alive. She doesn’t need another broken group.”

“Okay.” Jensen breathed.

“I’m glad you’re here.” Jolene leaned in for a hug.

Jensen wrapped his arms around her back, holding her tight. His right hand brushed through her hair to comfort her but he really just wanted to feel her, he hasn't felt the touch of a woman for a very long time. He loved how she felt and wanted to let her know how he truly felt for her but now wasn't the time. She was fragile and he needed to handle her with care.

They stood there hugging in relief in the summer dusk and Rick was looking right at them through the scope of his shot gun in the guard tower. He couldn't stand Jensen, didn’t want him in the prison but he’s the only thing keeping Jolene here. Jolene and Jensen spent a lot of time together and Rick hated it. He wanted her to be with him and he knew he shouldn’t be bothered by it; he’s a married man still trying to fix his marriage… a marriage he somewhat hoped failed. He was getting real tired of trying. He was falling out of love with Lori and more in love with Jolene. But is it really love? Or is just infatuation…a crush? Rick thought to himself.

“Joe! Dinners ready.” Carl yelled out as he walked out of the prison.

“No thanks little man, I’ll pass tonight.”

“Hershel said you should come in, you need to stay hydrated, he didn’t see you drink anything all day. No one did.”

“I’ll be fine. You seen your dad around?

“He’s in the guard tower keeping watch.”

“Thanks.” Jolene headed over to the tower.

“Rick?” Jolene approached Rick from behind as he was looking out to the yard of the prison.

Rick slowly turned to look at her.

“I know it’s safer inside but killing walkers will go a lot faster if I was outside the gate.”

“No. We’re in a controlled environment in here, outside those gates anything can happen. There’s not many walkers, it’s not a big threat right now.”

“Rick, I know you’re the leader, I’ve never questioned your orders and you are doing a great job but if I want to go outside these fences I’m…”

“If something happens to you out there it could be too late to do anything about it.” Rick interrupted. “We’ve had more in our group and people’s lives were lost because it wasn’t a controlled environment. I need to make sure everyone is safe. You’re not going out there.” He put his foot down as he firmly raised his voice. “Go back in the prison with Jensen.” Rick muttered as he turned his back to her.

“I’m sorry.” Jolene quickly surrendered. She was a little turned on by how firm he was to her but quickly shook it off. “I know you have a lot on your plate and if there’s anything I can do to help I’m here but I gotta ask…why do you hate Jensen?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No, you just show it and since he’s joined the group you’ve been a little…moody.”

Rick didn’t say a word as he looked out into the prison yard. He stopped himself from yelling at her. Jolene stood there for a moment wondering why his attitude was mainly to her and Jensen. She turned around and started walking away.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice to you.” Rick rubbed the back of his neck trying to relax.

He was upset that Jensen was here, that he was thinking of Jolene in ways that he shouldn’t, that his marriage was on the rocks even though Lori lied to him and told him that she still wants to keep trying with their marriage, that he was trying everything in his power to stay faithful and not be a cheater like Lori, upset that Shane was giving him hell and that over all he had to maintain his composure for Carl sake.

Jolene noticed the tension running through Rick’s body. “If I’m doing something that’s bothering you…”

“No. It’s me, not you.” Rick sighed.

“You should go eat. Get a drink of water or something.” Jolene insisted.

“You coming?” Rick looked to her as she brushed past him.

“Nope, not hungry. I’ll keep watch tonight.”

“Daryl’s said he’s keeping watch tonight and second half of the shift belongs to Andrea.”

“Well you tell Daryl he’s relieved of his duty tonight.”

Jolene looked out to the prison yard and saw Lori out and about. “Looks like queen bee is lookin for ya.” Jolene informed Rick. “Good luck with her.”

Rick didn’t say a word as he stared at Jolene. He didn’t want to leave her alone but he walked away to deal with Lori.

“Rick.” Jolene called out to him as he was leaving. Rick turned and looked back to Jolene. “The pillows here suck, you should get a sheet and fold it a few times, use it as a neck pillow…should probably help your neck there.”

“Thanks.” Rick walked out.

An hour passed as Jolene was keeping watch in the guard tower and Daryl came up.

“Clementine wants to know when you’re coming down.”

“Tell her to get some sleep, I’m keeping watch tonight.” Jolene glanced at Daryl.

“Not your call.”

Jolene didn’t say a word and looked out to yard. Daryl walked over and stood right next to her.

“I expect you to show me how to use your crossbow tomorrow. We’ve been putting that off to the side lately.” Jolene quickly glanced at him.

“Fine by me.”

A silence blew through them and Jolene started thinking about all the things she's taken for granted in life.

“Daryl…what’s something you’ve been missing since all hell broke loose?” 

“Eating out.”

“Well now, I volunteer if you wanna eat out.” Jolene joked.

Daryl turned his head and playfully glared at her and her dirty mind. “Merle and I would go to a ma an pa diner, get a big ass plate of bacon and eggs. Their sausages were out of this world.”

“Merle huh?” Jolene repeated the man’s name hoping he would introduce who the person was to him.

“My brother.”

“Sorry.” Jolene showed her sympathy.

“What do you miss?”

“Sex.” She bluntly confessed. “Oh and a hot shower.”

Daryl Chuckled and looked down to the prison yard. “Damn girl, can’t argue with that.”

“What I’d give for a fuck buddy. All the decent men left in this world are taken now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well Rick’s a married man, Shane is a dick who’s fuckin around, Glenn’s with Maggie and Hershel could be my grandfather.”

“What about you and Jensen? You two seem pretty close.”

“We go way back but I’ve never really seen him in other ways than just a friend.”

A silence grew upon them. Daryl was contemplating if he should make a move. Even though Jolene’s heart was set on Rick she was thinking the exact same thing since she knew she didn’t stand a chance with Rick.

“What’s wrong with me?” Daryl croaked.

“Uh…nothing’s wrong with you.”

“So why didn’t you mention me.”

“I uh…just assumed that you weren’t interested…”

“What if I am? You ain't the only one who needs to get laid.”

“I uh…I wouldn't oppose to that.” Jolene stared into Daryl’s eyes.

They both looked at each other wondering if this was really going to happen. The more he stared at her, the more dirty his thoughts became.

“Joe, you need to eat. It’s not healthy going a day without.” Hershel popped out of nowhere.

“Yes father.” Jolene looked to Hershel with a smile then looked back to Daryl as Hershel left.

“Tomorrow, you, me and that crossbow. It’s a date.” Jolene walked out.


	9. Opening Up

“Hey Clem.” Jolene walked into her cell after Hershel made sure she ate something.

“I’ll show you how to make it tomorrow.” Carl’s voice echoed through the walkie talkie that Clementine was holding.

“Rick let me borrow his walkie talkie to talk to Carl and Sophia when we’re not together.” Clementine quickly explained to Jolene as she got up and hugged her then went back to talking to Carl.

Jolene smiled, grabbed her hair brush and let down her hair to brush it.

“I’ll be right back; I’m going to get some water.” Clementine looked to Jolene as she put down the walkie talkie and excused herself.

“I’m gonna get ready for bed now.” Carl’s voice sounded through the walkie talkie.

Jolene picked it up and pushed the button. “She left the room. I’ll let her know. You have a good night Carl.”

“I’ll inform Carl when he comes back in the cell.” Ricks voice caught Jolene by surprise.

“Okay, you have a good night Rick.”

“Jolene?”

Jolene hesitated for a moment. “Yes Rick.”

He hesitated as well. He didn’t know what to tell her but he wanted to hear her voice.

“Nothing… good night Jolene.”

“Rick?” She quickly responded before he turned off the walkie talkie.

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For bringing Clementine and I here. I don’t think I ever thanked you.”

Rick’s heart warmed up hearing her say those words. Her voice was driving him crazy, he wanted to go to her cell and talk to her in person, to see her but he had to spend time with Carl since Lori was asleep because when Lori is around he’s limited to what he can do and say with Carl. “There’s no need to thank me.”

“Yeah there is. I could’ve been dead already. You don’t get the respect you deserve. Thank you.”

Rick hesitated again and Carl walked back into the cell. “No problem. Good night.”

“Good night.” Jolene slowly turned off the walkie talkie.

 

*****Jolene’s Dream/Flashback to her past*****  
“New breaks and spark plugs, you’re set to go sir.” Jolene wiped her grimy hands on a bar towel.

“Thanks. I appreciate you guys takin in my car last minute. I bet you guys are anxious to go home and count down the New Year. How much do I owe ya?” The well dressed man with the 2012 Bentley pulled out his wallet.

“It’s the life of a mechanic. My man over there will take care of ya.” Jolene pointed the customer to the front where her boss stood to pay.

“Joe. You’re good!” Eric, her boss winked to her letting her know she’s set to go home.

“See ya tomorrow!” She briefly waved her hand to Eric as she pulled out her car keys and headed out.

Jolene opened her car door slid the key into the ignition turned it on and drove home to her husband Justin. It was New Years Eve as she was driving down the road listening to her favorite radio station and she glanced at the car clock. Eight Fifteen. Her anxiety rose as she was planning out her words carefully making sure her excuse of why she was late didn’t tick off Justin. They were supposed to be at a New Year’s party at Eight Thirty and she knew Justin would start yelling at her again, this time for being late for the party. She just wanted one night where she goes home and doesn’t have to worry about Justin screaming at her and laying his hand over her. She was tired of covering up the bruises he would leave.

She pulled up to the drive way and turned off the car. She swallowed the knot in her throat, took a deep breath filled with anxiety and opened the car door……  
***** ***** ***** *****

 

Jolene quickly sat up on her bed, panting in cold sweat. Her body had woke her up before she could finish the dream. She didn’t want to relive that awful night again. She got out of bed, put her boots on and walked out of the prison and into the yard for fresh air. It was still dark outside but dawn was near.

Jolene looked up at the guard tower and saw someone’s figure. She decided to keep Andrea company on her shift.

“Andrea.” Jolene walked in.

Rick turned around and Jolene was caught off guard to see Rick standing before her.

“Oh, I thought you said this was Andrea’s shift.” She took a step closer to him.

“She wasn’t feeling too well.”

“Damn, don’t you ever get any sleep? You’re like superman.”

Rick smirked as he put down his shot gun.

“Do you mind if I stay with you for awhile. I don’t really feel like being alone right now.”

“I would love the company.” Rick rubbed the back of his neck, still hurting from all the stress building up each day.

Jolene noticed his neck problem and wanted to help him out with that. “Let me help.” She positioned herself behind Rick.

Rick stiffed up and wondered what she was up to. Her hands gently touched the back of his neck and slowly pressed her fingers down. Rick slightly moaned from the sensation but quickly shut himself up, holding it in.

“Relax.” Jolene whispered.

Rick inhaled and started relaxing his body. Her touch sent shivers down his spine and he was trying to control himself from doing what he really wanted to do to her.

Jolene slowly moved her hands down to his shoulders. Rick clenched his jaw, holding in the moans of relaxation. He was enjoying it a little too much that he felt himself getting harder by the second. She had the unique skill of finding the right spot and putting just the right amount of pressure to relax his muscles. Not even Lori could make him feel the way he felt now when she would give him massages in the past.

Jolene smiled, she knew he was enjoying it. She loved the way he felt, her hands wanted to go lower but to touch more would be inappropriate, she couldn’t do that to a married man.

They stood there for a few minutes in silence as Jolene was working her magic on him.

“I was stabbed.” She confessed.

Rick snapped out of his relaxation, pulled away from the massage and turned to her. “What?”

“You asked how I got the scar on my shoulder…I was stabbed.” Jolene sighed. “I was sixteen and my mom was dating some loser guy. They ran out of liquor and smokes one night so my mom grabbed her keys and said she’ll be back. She left me alone with her boyfriend.” Jolene paused; she started feeling a knot in her throat from the memory of that night.

“He was drunk and barged through my bedroom door…Domino, my dog started barking at him and he started yelling at him to shut up and kicked him. I got out of my bed and tried kickin him outta my room. He pulled out his pocket knife and threatened to kill Domino if he didn’t stop barking. I was yellin and screamin for help but I knew help was never going to come. He stabbed Domino…I tried to stop it but got caught in the crossfire and he stabbed my shoulder. He left the knife in, pushed me down and started moving the knife around in my skin, making the wound deeper like he was enjoying it…and that wasn’t even the worst part he did to me.”

Rick was speechless, heartbroken on what she had to endure.

“With no insurance and no help I had to stitch it up myself. One of the many memories I wish I could forget.”

“I’m…I’m sorry.” Rick sympathized.

“It was a long time ago. As crazy as it sounds living in this prison…for me, its paradise compared to how I used to live.” She thought it was pretty ironic. She’s spent a great amount of time avoiding prison and now she’s living in one.

Evening time – The woods

Jolene was in the back seat of Daryl’s motorcycle and he had just pulled up to an abandoned shack. Jolene let go of Daryl’s fit waist and looked around.

“Why did we stop here?”

“Why you ask questions?” It was Daryl’s excuse to be alone with Jolene in the shack but didn’t want to admit it.

Daryl walked into the shack to make sure it was walker free and Jolene followed. A dusty Polaroid camera caught her attention in the corner of the room and she walked over to pick it up from the floor. She blew on it to dust off the spider webs and checked to see if there was any film. She smiled when she saw that it was full of film.

“What’d you got there?” Daryl walked over to her.

“I’m gonna give it to Clementine.” She showed it to Daryl then walked out of the shack to the motorcycle to put it in the bag.

Jolene heard groaning and from a short distance she saw a walker hanging by his neck from a tree. She walked over to it and saw a note pinned to the tree that the walker was hanging from and Daryl followed behind her.

“Got bit, fever hit, world gone to shit, might as well quit.” Jolene mumbled the words on the note. She sighed, shaking her head and dropped the paper.

“What it say?” Daryl caught up to her.

“Suicide note.” She walked back to the shack.

Daryl shook it off and handed the crossbow to Jolene.

“Nice.” She smiled. She loved the feel of it and Daryl loved how she looked with it.

Jolene got in aiming position and Daryl walked up behind her to give her a hand.

“Pull it back.” Daryl’s deep voice pierced her ears making the hair on her arms stand up.

Daryl wrapped his arms around her putting her in the right position. Jolene cleared her throat out of nervousness, trying to stay calm.

“You see that black spot on the tree right there. Aim at that.” His voice hit the back of her neck.

Jolene stared hard at the black spot and fired. Close but missed. Daryl continued to coach her a while longer until she started getting it right.

She fired and got the black hole right in the middle. Daryl walked over to the tree, pulled out the arrows and walked back over to her. She aimed the crossbow again but her eyes got a glance at a spider crawling on her lower leg. If there is one thing in the world she hated more than walkers it was spiders.

“Oh shit!” Jolene laid the crossbow down and shook her right leg to get rid of the spider.

Daryl chuckled at her and as she bent down her tank top and over shirt lifted, showing the tattoo on her lower back. Daryl quickly noticed it and just like that he had to have her. Tattoos were his weakness on a woman. He tried to get a better look at it but Jolene stood up straight, holding the crossbow and the tattoo disappeared.

She aimed at another tree to practice again but Daryl got right behind her and with his left hand he slowly picked up her shirt and doodled little circles with his thumb on her tattoo and his right hand took the crossbow out of her hands and laid it on the floor. With his left hand still touching her tattoo his right hand wrapped around her waist, touching her stomach, with his chest pressed up against her back.

She felt Goosebumps form from his touch as his face buried down in her neck. His hand removed itself from her tattoo, slid her hair to the side and roughly bit down on the back of her neck. A moan of pleasure escaped Jolene’s mouth as her right hand reached over to the back of Daryl’s neck and ran through his hair.

“You gonna show me that tattoo?” He mumbled through her neck, still biting down and doing little circles with the tip of his wet tongue.

Jolene turned her head all the way to the right and Daryl’s lips crashed on to hers. The kiss was hard, wet and his left hand started massaging breast.

Jolene released herself from his grip, turned to face him and pulled his shirt, dragging him in the shack. Daryl kicked the door closed, quickly picked Jolene up and sat her on top of a little table by the window. He pulled down her pony tail and tangled his hands through her hair as his lips burned down on her neck. 

She could feel his hard dick wanting to explode out of his pants between her legs as his body pressed hard against hers.

Daryl quickly unbuttoned her shirt and took it off along with her tank top and quickly unhooked her bra. He growled with pleasure as he stared at her bare breasts and hard nipples and his tongue circled around her left nipple with his hand massaging her right breast. He started to roughly suck on her nipple and Jolene's heart started beating faster, her breathing changed like if you just jumped into a very cold swimming pool on a fall evening.

“I need to see it.” Daryl eagerly lifted Jolene off the table, put her down and turned her around. Jolene rested her hands on the table and faced the window.

He got a good look at her tattoo and was more turned on than ever. He started leaving trails of kisses on her back and slowly made his way down. His tongue tasted every inch of her tattoo as his hands were exploring her thighs. He loved hearing the soft moans of pleasure from Jolene and his hands moved up to her ass. She felt herself running out of patience, she was getting wetter by the second and she had to have him inside her. 

She turned around and Daryl stood back up. Both them stared into each other’s eyes, hungry for each other. She yanked off his shirt and her teeth bit down on the right side of his neck as Daryl’s hand were finding their way into her pants. After he unbuttoned and unzipped her pants his hand slid in and started massaging her over her underwear. He felt how wet she was getting through her underwear and he wanted to feel her wetness on his throbbing hard dick.

*Bang Bang Bang*

Daryl and Jolene quickly looked out the window and saw two walkers trying to get in.

Jolene groaned as she laid her head on his chest. “Time to go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sexual tension between Rick and Jolene and Daryl and Jolene are killing me! I love it! What is going to happen next?  
> I think it's a good thing the walkers showed up before they proceeded with their primal instincts because this is a Rick and O/C story :) I just had to put that in for the Daryl lovers.


	10. Before the Truth Ignites

Glenn and Shane opened the gate for Daryl and Jolene. Jolene let go of Daryl’s waist as Daryl was getting off the motorcycle and Rick quickly knew something had happened.

“Run into any trouble?” Rick looked back and forth to Daryl and Jolene.

“Nothin we can’t handle.” Daryl picked up his crossbow.

“What happened to your pony tail?” Rick looked to Jolene noticing that her hair was now down and not up like it was before she left. He also noticed that some of the buttons on her shirt were unbuttoned and that one of buttons were on the wrong slit.

“It ripped.” Jolene quickly avoided any more questions and made her way into the prison to check on Clementine. She has no obligation to Rick yet she couldn’t look him in the eyes, she felt like she cheated on him for some odd reason.

“Hey Clem.” Jolene walked into the cafeteria to Carol, Sophia and Clementine.

“Joe!” Clementine ran and tackled her down with a hug.

“I got you something.” Jolene pulled out the Polaroid camera from behind her.

“A camera? We don’t have anywhere to print them.” Clementine grabbed the camera.

“Push that button there and the picture comes out. Simple as that.”

“Really?” Clementine’s eyes widen with amazement.

“Uh huh. I figured you can keep busy by taking pictures of what you like.”

“Thank you Joe!” Clementine hugged her once more then ran over to Sophia.

“I’m glad you guys came back.” Carol looked to Jolene. “It scares me every time Daryl goes out these gates.”

“Daryl’s a big boy; he knows how to handle himself.” She sat down next to Carol.

“I know but I can’t imagine what I’d do without him.” Carol looked down to the floor. She had fallen hard for Daryl but was afraid to show it.

Jolene noticed something in Carol, the same look she has when she thinks of Rick. “You and Daryl are real close huh?”

“He’s been there for Sophia and me more than my own husband was. He’s nothing like his brother; he has a heart under the rough patch. Ed…he would never let me out of his sight. I lived in fear and always worried for Sophia’s safety. Daryl is more of a father to her than her own daddy.”

“Justin, my husband started off amazing then started to verbally abuse me.” Jolene confessed. “When we found out that I couldn’t get pregnant everything changed for the worse. He let me know how upset he was about not having a family every night. Forced to give it up and cover the bruises and cuts every morning. Had to play house wife with a smile like if nothing happened when I was dying inside."

“Now we’re both free from the devil beside us.” Carol laid her hand on Jolene’s and gave it a light squeeze. “We both found our way to this group for a reason, to give us hope. Rick has kept us alive this far and Daryl is the angel I need to keep my spirit alive.” Carol sighed with Daryl clouding her mind.

“Yeah.” Jolene felt disgusted with herself. “Ima go get some water.” Jolene got up and walked out of the cafeteria. She felt ashamed of what almost happened with Daryl. How could she be so blind to not see how Carol felt about him?

-That Night-

Jolene found Daryl sitting on the stairs in the cell block, holding on to his crossbow.

“Daryl, can we talk?” She sat down next to him on the step.

“What about?”

Rick was on his way to the cell block Daryl and Jolene were in but stopped before they could see him when he heard Jolene saying if they could talk.

“I’m just curious to where you and Carol stand.”

“What do you mean?” He tilted his head in confusion.

“I don’t think you and I should go any further. I was talking to Carol and she seems to be taken by you. She didn’t say it but I know how she feels about you. Last thing I want is to cause trouble to anyone. I don’t want her to be heartbroken. She sees you as her hero and so does Sophia. You give her hope.”

Daryl stared at Jolene as it finally sunk in. He knew but it didn’t come to full realization until now.

“If she was to find out something was going on between us, her hope will go down in flames. She needs you and you need to be there for her.”

“I understand.”

“Well Ima go check on Clementine.” Jolene’s hand gripped his shoulder to stand up and left the cell block.

Rick had the confirmation he needed. He was angry but calmed himself down with that fact that at least they won’t be getting any closer. He didn’t want anyone to put their hands on her.

-Dawn-

“Hey, you need help?” Jolene walked over to the crops where Rick was getting an early start on farming.

“I pretty much got it covered. What are you doing awake so early?”

“I could ask you the same thing?”

“Getting an early start before the sun drives me crazy.”

“Well let me help.” Jolene insisted.

For a moment they didn’t say a word as they were checking the pigs and crops and Jolene hated the silence.

“I’m gonna help Carol and Andrea out with the laundry later. Kinda noticed Lori stopped doing your laundry; if you want I’ll wash them for you.”

“I don’t know. I don’t feel right having you wash my clothes. It’s not your responsibility.”

“I’ll be more than happy to do you.” Jolene quickly bit her tongue in realization of what she just uttered. “To do your clothes, wash your clothes.” She quickly corrected herself.

Rick smirked, chuckling under his breath. “Oh God, I think I’m falling in love with you.” He muttered as he took a few steps away from her to continue checking the tomatoes but wasn’t intended for Jolene to hear, it just slipped out of his mouth.

Jolene vaguely heard those words and her heart raced as she gulped down her anxiety. She didn’t know if she should respond to what he said.

“This is what happens when I’m awake at this hour with no coffee, my words come out all wrong.” She tried hard not to blush but it was out of her control.

Jolene grabbed the pig food and went over to feed the pigs. She leaned forward as she fed them and her shirt slowly rose up, showing half of her tattoo. Rick turned to her to say something and quickly noticed the tattoo again. He desperately wanted to go up behind her, pull up the shirt and get a good look at it. He stood there and ran his hand down his mouth and jaw, trying to control himself and Jolene noticed him looking at her from the corner of her eye. She loved the attention from him.

“I know you were starin back at the hunting store.” She confessed, still feeding the pigs.

“What?”

“When I was changing.” She put down the food and turned to him. “You don’t need to sneak, you could just ask to look at it…you know, my tattoo.”

“I uh…” Rick gulped. He started to sweat and it was not because of the summer heat.

Jolene chuckled at his awkwardness. “I know you were trying to look at it right now.”

“I, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have stared. I…” He scratched the back of his head, trying to quickly think of something to say. “I’m, I’m sorry.”

“Good morning.” Clementine walked up to Jolene and Rick.

“Good morning. What are you doing awake so early sweetheart?” Jolene noticed the camera in her hand.

“I wanted to take a picture of the sunrise. Can I take a picture of you guys too?”

“Sure.” Rick and Jolene accepted.

“Smile and say cheese.” Clementine grinned as she aimed to take the picture.

Rick wrapped his left arm around Jolene and gripped on to her upper arm, bringing her closer to him. They both smiled and said cheese and Clementine snapped the picture. Rick let his arm linger on her a second longer and finally let go.

“I like it.” Clementine smiled as she looked at the picture slide out of the camera.

“Nice.” Jolene glanced at it. “I’ll be back, gonna go get some water.” She walked away.

“Here you go Rick.” Clementine handed the picture to him.

“Aren’t you going to keep it?”

“I can always take more. I want everyone to have pictures.”

Rick took the picture and stared at it as Clementine walked away. He thought that Jolene looked absolutely radiant in the picture.

After Breakfast

“Hey Rick. You wanna go change into different clothes so I could wash those.” Jolene and Carol walked up to Rick.

Rick was going to tell her that it was okay and that she shouldn’t bother doing things for him but he knew Jolene would counter him so he decided to just agree. “Alright.”

Jolene gave Rick a minute then walked over to his cell to collect his clothes.

“You decent?” Jolene stood by the side of his cell, not wanting to walk in on him in case he was dressing.

“You could come in.”

Jolene held out her hands and Rick handed her his clothes. “You don’t have to.”

“Someone has to.” Jolene smirked, looking down to his zipper that was down.

Rick noticed where Jolene's eyes were looking. He looked down and quickly zipped up his zipper, feeling a little embarrassed. Jolene couldn't help but stare at his package. She really wanted to know what type of gun the officer was packing underneath those pants.

“That will be me.” Lori brushed by Jolene, bumping her shoulder and yanked the clothes out of her hands. “Why don’t you go play house somewhere else.”

Rick looked down to the floor, massaging his temples from stress building. He knew that Jolene would say something that will anger Lori and the last thing he wanted was for them two to argue.

Jolene had a million words she wanted to blurt out to Lori but kept her mouth shut for Rick and walked out, grinding her teeth.

“Now you’re going to be my wife and do my laundry?” Rick fumed.

“I’ve always been your wife Rick. Why are you going to have her do my job?”

“Because you’re not doing your job, you’re out dictating what our son can do and “bonding” with Shane.” Rick grabbed his clothes from Lori’s hand and the photo of him and Jolene peaked its way out of his pants pocket. Lori quickly pulled it out to see what it was.

“I want you to stop being around her.” Lori stared at the picture with hatred in her eyes.

“Sure thing. I will when you stop screwing around with Shane.” Rick took the picture back. “How stupid do you think I am! Unlike you I’m still faithful to you Lori. Nothing is going on with Jolene like you think it is. You say you want to work things out, you want to keep trying, well all I see is you trying to hide what you’re doing with Shane.” Rick turned around and started walking away.

“Where are you going!” Lori yelled out.

“I’m going to keep us alive like I’ve been doing and spend time with my son.”

 

*****Flash Back to Jolene’s Past*****  
“You’re late.” Justin’s voice carried through the house as Jolene walked through the front door. 

She walked to the kitchen where she heard his voice.

“A customer needed his car fixed last minute. Eric wouldn’t let me go home until the job was done. I tried to hurry. I’ll just take a quick shower and put my hair up; I’ll be ready in ten minutes, promise.” She timidly stood by the entrance of the kitchen.

“We were supposed to leave a half hour ago. I told my boss I would be there at Eight Thirty. How am I supposed to get that promotion if I tell my boss one thing and I don’t follow through Jolene!” Justin marched to her.

“I’m sorry.” She winced back ready for him to strike her.

“Get out of my face.” He turned his back to her.  
Jolene jogged upstairs and quickly got ready. 

She quickly walked down stairs to the living room as she double checked her wallet one last time to make sure she had her license since she knew Justin would be drinking at the party and she would need to be the designated driver.  
*****End*****Flash*****Back*****

 

“Joe, hey Joe.” Jensen’s deep husky voice dragged Jolene out her own world as he waved his hand in front of her face to grab her attention.

“Hey.” Jolene got up from her cell bed.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“There’s one thing left in the world I know that works on you when you’re stressed.” Jensen sat down on her bed. “Lay down.” He grabbed Jolene’s hand and brought her closer to him.

“Jensen…”

“Lay down.”

Jolene gave in, laid down and rested her head on his lap.

“You feel better?” Jensen started petting her hair.

“You always know how to make me feel better.” She started to relax.

“Well this has to work since I can’t buy you chocolate.”

Jolene smiled as his strong hands brushed through her hair. She was relaxed enough to start falling asleep. Jensen stared down at her, loving the feel of her hair and how beautiful she looked to him right now. He tried controlling his thoughts about her so he wouldn't get horny. He didn't want to get a boner and make it obvious on how he's feeling but his eyes couldn't stop looking at her. The curves on her body drove him insane.

“Hey Jensen.” Glenn walked in on them. “You wanna head out with us on a run tomorrow?”

“You know it.” Jensen replied.

“Hey I want to go too.” Jolene quickly sat up.

“I don’t know, you need to talk to Rick.” Glenn informed.

“Alright.”

“Jolene.” Jensen grabbed on to her hand as she was about to walk away. “Don’t. You need to stay here where you’re safe.”

“I think we both know how I feel about being behind bars for an extended period of time.” Jolene released her hand from his grip and walked out.

“Hey Rick?” Jolene walked up to Rick who was looking at a map that was laid out on the hood of a car. “Why was I not included on the run?”

“I think Jensen, Daryl, Glenn and myself can handle it.”

“Yeah…I’m going.”

“Jolene…”

“Where are we headed?” Jolene interrupted as she looked down at the map.

“Macon.”

Jolene’s eyes stared deathly at the map, flashbacks appearing with every blink.

“Jolene.” Rick tried snapping her out of her thoughts.

“What about the next town. Macon is probably all scavenged up.”

“We’ve already hit all these other towns, we haven’t tried Macon.” He pointed out.

Jolene inhaled and exhaled slowly. She never wanted to go back to that place but decided to go with them. She didn’t want her past holding her back anymore.

“You don’t have to go.” Rick noticed her change in reaction.

“No, I…I want to go.” She leaned her back on the car, looking out to the sunset.

“Something wrong with Macon?”

“No, not at all.” She lied through her teeth.

Rick leaned back on the car next to Jolene, relaxing in the summer air as he rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease himself from the stress and all Jolene wanted to do was help him.

“I would massage you again but queen bee might come out and throw a temper tantrum. If you want me to, you know where I sleep.” Jolene slowly walked away.

-That Night-

“I didn’t see him there I swear. I screamed like a little girl who saw a huge spider." Jolene finished telling Carl a moment of her past over the walkie talkie.

Rick walked up to Jolene’s cell after he knew for sure Lori was asleep and heard Jolene talking to Carl over the walkie talkie.

“That’s hilarious.” Carl laughed.

“Not for me.” Jolene chuckled.

Rick moved the sheet that was hanging on the entrance to her cell that gave Jolene her privacy and walked in.

“Hey man, I think you just got busted.” Jolene smiled and handed the walkie talkie over to Rick.

He pushed the button on the walkie talkie and looked at Jolene. “I thought you were asleep.”

“It’s Joe’s fault.” Carl laughed.

“Good night Carl.” Rick pushed the button again.

“Good night dad.” Carl then turned off his walkie talkie.

“I’m sorry. I…”

“It’s okay.” Rick interrupted Jolene.

“Carl wanted to read me his comic and then we ended up telling some real funny stories. I just finished telling him the most embarrassing moment of my life.”

“What’s the most embarrassing moment of your life?”

“Psh, like I’m going to tell you.” She smiled.

Rick leaned his back to the wall, crossed his arms and stared at her. She looked so beautiful with her long wavy hair flowing down.

“Isn’t Lori going to throw a fit if she sees you in here?”

“She’s asleep.”

Jolene knew why Rick was in her cell so she got up from her bed, walked up to him and gripped his right shoulder, dragging him to her bed. “Sit down.”

“I’m sorry for bothering you.” Rick sat down on the edge of the bed as Jolene jumped on the bed right behind him. “I just…oh.” Rick quickly lost his train of thought as her hands touched deep into his neck.

She smiled knowing he was enjoying the massage. She bit her bottom lip trying to contain her impure thoughts. “Rick?”

“Yeah.”

“Why do you call me Jolene?”

“That’s your name isn’t it?” He smirked.

“I mean everyone here calls me Joe and you're the only one who calls me by my full name.”

“I love the sound of you name.”

“What’s there to love about it?”

“It’s yours.”

She felt herself turn red in the face and was glad that she was behind him so he wouldn’t see her blushing.

“You mind if I unbutton a couple? You know, so I can do this better.” Jolene's hands reached over to the buttons on his shirt.

“By all means.” Rick felt himself get excited and his heart beat rising as she was slowly unbuttoning the top three buttons. Her chest lightly pressed against his back and he started heating up. It was getting to hot with all the thoughts of Jolene running wild on his mind. He wanted her to press her chest harder against him, his hands were jealous of all the action his back was getting. At this point, he wanted her breasts in his hands, to feel them, massage them and taste them.

Her hands slipped through the top of his shirt and massaged his shoulders. His skin was smooth and she had to take a deep breath to calm herself down from the high of feeling his skin.

“Oh God, Jolene.” Rick moaned as she was hitting the right spots. He tried to think of something else but he just got harder, making his pants tighter.

Her smile widened, she was enjoying their time alone together. Rick quickly got up but didn’t turn to face her. He had to stop it there before he exploded and gave in to temptation.

“You okay?” Jolene got up from the bed, wondering why he suddenly stood up.

“Yeah, we should rest up for the run tomorrow.” Rick walked towards the cell door, buttoning up his shirt. “Thank you.” He walked out. He knew it looked rude but he didn’t want her to see that during the massage he got hard enough for her to notice. He desperately needed a cold shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why doesn't she want to go to Macon? Hmm, I wonder what is going to happen on their run. Things are going to start picking up now  
> If you are still reading this I give you a round of applause, thank you for reading and why you're at it maybe you could click a certain Kudos button if it doesn't trouble you! :) Stay Lovely!


	11. No More Hiding

Morning

*****Flashback to Jolene’s Past*****  
“That was more than ten minutes.” Justin got off his phone and walked towards Jolene.

“By only two minutes.” She put her wallet in the back pocket of her jeans.

“You’re not wearing that top.” Justin poked her chest. “Everyone is going to stare at you.”

“I’ve worn this before and you never had a problem. It’s a low cut shirt, no big deal.” She defended herself.

“My boss will be there and I don’t want him to think I’m married to a slut. Go change.”

“No. You and I obviously have two different definitions of slut. I’m not changing. There’s nothing wrong with this shirt.”

“Go upstairs and put something decent on.” Justin pushed her to the wall.

“That’s it!” She finally stood up for herself. “I’m not going to take it anymore. You are a control freak with anger issues. I’m done, I can’t do this anymore.” She walked past him.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Justin glared.

Jolene gulped hard, extremely nervous of what he might do to her and turned to face him. "I...I want a divorce."  
*****End*****Flash*****Back*****

“Joe, where here.” Jensen shook Jolene out of her thoughts.

Jolene looked out the window and saw nothing but memories in the town of Macon. She got out of the car and observed the place.

“Jensen and I will hit north, Jolene, Daryl and Glenn, you guys hit south. Meet back in three hours.” Rick announced.

Everyone agreed and went on their way to scavenge for supplies.

As Daryl, Glenn and Jolene were heading towards a grocery store after their second hour of scavenging Jolene noticed keys still in the ignition on a Camery. Jolene opened the car door and turned the key. The car studdered for a second then roared with life.

“What are you doing?” Glenn walked over to her.

“You guys go on, something I gotta do.”

“What are you talkin about?” Daryl questioned.

“I just…I used to live here and I need to check something out."

“Alright we’ll go with…” Glenn insisted but was interrupted by Jolene.

“No, I need to do this on my own. I know the area and it seems to be pretty quiet, not too many walkers here. I know what I’m doing I just really need to do this on my own. I’ll meet you guys back at the car in an hour.” Jolene quickly closed the door before Daryl and Glenn got closer and drove off.

Daryl and Glenn watched as she disappeared and knew that Rick would be upset to know she went off alone.

\----- ----- ----- -----

“So we started talking after that and the rest is history. She’s been there for me and I’ve been there for her.” Jensen explained to Rick how he met Jolene.

“You two ever…?” Rick glanced at Jensen as he was rummaging through drawers and desks for bullets in the police station.

“I wanted to tell her that I had feelings for her but she pretty much kept me in the friend zone. Then she got married to some asshole that didn’t deserve her. I respected her marriage but I wanted her. Now that the world is over I finally got a chance with her.”

Rick glared hard at Jensen. He knew how Jensen felt about Jolene and now he was clearly a threat to him. “What if she still “friend zones” you?”

“Better not, I need to get laid, and soon.”

Rick clenched his jaw; his blood started boiling with anger. “Is that so?”

“What man doesn’t need to get laid right about now? It’s the reason why you’re so tense all the time, ain’t getting any from your wife.”

Rick walked over to Jensen and didn't blink as he stared bitterly at him. “My personal life is no concern to you, and as for Jolene, leave her alone. She doesn’t need someone chasing after her right now. Show some respect, keep it in your pants.”

Jensen barely chuckled. “You know Rick, I know you don’t like me and that the only reason you wanted me to come with you on this run was to get more information on me. It looks like you have a thing for her, but I know her better than you do. At the end of the day she’ll be waking up next to me. I’m not saying it to be cocky I’m just speaking the truth. Eventually and it will happen pretty soon she’ll realize that I have always been there for her and that I will continue to be there for her. She’ll get the satisfaction of safety and protection that I can provide and I’ll get the satisfaction of…well I think you know.”

Rick took a good look at the threat right in front of him and made a fist. The thought of Jolene with this fool was something he wasn’t going to let happen. “I don’t think you get it so let me make it clear. If you make a move on Jolene, if you so even touch her…”

“You’ll what?” Jensen interrupted. “You’ll kill me? Go ahead. How do you think she’ll see you if you kill her best friend…future lover? I’m not stupid Rick; I see how you look at her. You hate me because she’s spending more time with me. Let’s be realistic here, you got a son and a wife…you really think you got a shot with her?”

*Bang, Bang, Bang*

Banging on the front door of the police station broke them away from their tense argument. Rick and Jensen looked out the window and saw four walkers trying to get in. Rick opened the door and stabbed the closest walker and Jensen headed for the second closest. They worked together for a moment to rid of the walkers.

\----- ----- ----- -----

*****Flashback to Jolene’s Past*****  
Justin grabbed her wrist and Jolene jerked back.

“Let go!” 

“I’m gonna have to teach you a lesson for disobeying.” He forcefully pulled her towards him.

“Damn it Justin, let go of me!” She struggled to get out of his grip.

Justin raised his right hand and struck her mouth. Her bottom lip cut open with the force of his punch. She tasted her own blood as he still had her in a hold. She head butted him and turned her back to him to run away but he quickly grabbed a handful of her hair and slammed her down to the floor.

“You little bitch.” He kicked her back as he stood over her. “I give you everything and this is how you repay me!” He violently kicked the left side of her face. “I took you away from the horrible life you were living and brought you into my world and you can’t even do a simple command? You want a divorce? You don't understand, if I can't have you no one will.”

She saw the opportunity and with her right foot she kicked him between the legs and crawled away from him as he crouched down in pain.

She got up and ran to the kitchen with the sound of Justin’s heavy steps behind her.  
*****End*****Flash*****Back*****

 

Jolene stood there in her old home recalling the memories of the night that changed her life. The atmosphere of the place has changed since the last time she was in the house. A new family had moved in, pictures of a happy family hanged on the walls but it seemed like the place was already raided because no food or anything of use was in sight.

She walked into the kitchen and stared at the floor, the memory of that night was clear as day.

 

*****Flashback to Jolene’s Past*****  
“Justin please stop, please!” She pleaded as she pulled out a knife from the counter drawer.

“What are you doing? Put the knife down.” He slowly walked over to her.

“Justin please don’t do this, I love you, please.” She begged with an unsteady voice and tears streaming down her face.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m sorry baby. Please put down the knife and we’ll talk this through, okay. Baby I love you, put it down.” He tried to calm her down.

Jolene opened her hand and the knife dropped to the floor. Justin quickly tackled her down and punched her face a couple of times then wrapped his hands tightly around her neck.  
*****End*****Flash*****Back*****

\----- ----- ----- -----

After Rick and Jensen took care of the walkers by the entrance of the police station Rick searched the sheriff’s office. Reports laid on the desk and he took a glance at them. Reports of the dead coming to life, raids in the city, murders and mass suicides.

He quickly glanced at the walls where the sheriff had posted wanted pictures of criminals and a map of the city as he walked out of the room. Two steps out of the room and Rick stopped in his tracks, deep in thought. He walked back into the room and took a look at one of the wanted pictures.

His eyes widened, heart started palpitating with emotions running wild. He felt uneasy and had more questions then there were probably answers for. He folded the paper and put it in his back pocket. He was stunned, befuddled, dismayed, angry, worried and concerned. His emotions were conflicted and he didn't know how to approach the situation at hand.

\----- ----- ----- -----

“Where’s Jolene?” Rick quickly noticed as he and Jensen headed back to the car after the third hour mark.

“She uh…” Glenn mumbled.

“She took off. Said she’ll be back within the hour and that was an hour ago.” Daryl stepped in front of Glenn.

“What do you mean she took off?” Rick raised his voice.

“I think I know where she might be. One of two places around here.” Jensen interjected.

\----- ----- ----- -----

Jolene drove to her job site where she used to work as a mechanic and picked the locks to the front door of the office. She heard a rustling in the bushes a few feet away from the doors. She stared at the bushes as she pulled out her knife from her back pocket and took a step forward.

A tired, hungry and skinny German shepherd made itself visible. Jolene let her guard down and stared at the dog. Both of them looked at each other without a blink. She disregarded the dog and walked in the shop. The bell above the door jingled as she closed the door behind her but the door did not shut all the way.

It looked as if a tornado hit the place. Broken objects, things scattered around with blood splattered on the walls and floors with bullet holes deep in the walls. She walked over to the front counter where she saw her bosses name tag and reached out to pick it up. Suddenly a walkers rotting hand took hold of her hand from behind the counter and stood up straight, making itself visible.

“Fuck.” She accidently dropped her knife when the walker startled her.

The bell rang and Jolene looked behind her as she reached down to her holster for the gun but the German shepherd had pushed the door open, jumped over the counter and tackled down the walker. Jolene picked up her knife and jumped over the counter to finish the job. She stabbed the walker through its skull and the dog let go the walkers arm.

The dog and Jolene stared at each other once more then the dog walked around the office sniffing things out and Jolene walked away.

She opened the garage door where she spent most of her time working on cars and saw her boss Eric, dead in the flesh, standing in front of his open car.

\----- ----- ----- ----- 

“Since she wasn’t at her old house she has to be here.” Jensen assured the group.

“That’s the car she was drivin.” Daryl pointed out.

“I’ll go get her. Stay here.” Rick ordered as he hopped out of the car and into the auto shop.

Daryl and Glenn noticed the hostility between Rick and Jensen and felt uncomfortable being in the same car with them. They knew something happened when they were alone together being that they were not like that before.

Rick walked in, the bell rang and the dog walked up to him. He was amazed to see a dog after so long without seeing one. Rick heard sobbing from the garage and followed the sound. He stood by the door as he saw Jolene with her back to him.

Jolene choked up, tears running down her face. Going to work was one of the only good things in her life; Eric would make her feel like she was someone and not a worthless being like Justin and the rest of society would make her feel. She stared at his dead cloudy eyes as he stumbled towards her. With her eyes blurry from the salty tears she raised her right hand up and stabbed him in the skull, dropping him to the floor as she fell with him. She softly cried to herself with her head down as she was on top of Eric’s dead body. “I’m sorry.” She whispered.

The dog walked over to Jolene and sat down next to her, letting out a small whimper as if the dog knew she was sad.

Rick didn’t know if he should walk over to her or say something. He was utterly confused. Jolene slowly got up as she pulled the knife out of Eric's skull and tried to put her emotions back in order.

She went up to Eric’s car; the only car in the garage and looked inside for anything useful. She pulled out a crowbar, a tomahawk and something new that she had never seen before, some sort machete arm strap with an ergonomic grip handle and hi-tech strap that wraps around your forearm for a secure feel. 

“You were supposed to stay with Glenn and Daryl, not wonder off.” Rick finally spoke.

Jolene quickly turned around, her heart skipping a beat to see Rick standing before her.

“Herd of walkers around the corner, we need to go.” Daryl rushed in to inform Rick and Jolene then back out the garage door.

Rick glared at Jolene, not saying a word as Jolene grabbed the weapons and walked out the door.

Jolene looked down at the dog and did not want to care for the dog for emotional reasons but deep down she couldn’t leave an animal starve to death.

“Come on.” She hand motioned for the dog to get in the car. The dog jumped in, she closed the car door and Rick drove off, passing a red Chevy Cavalier.

Martinez sat back up in his seat as he was bent down to hide as they were driving past his car. He turned on his car and carefully followed them. He now has the information he need. Jolene was alive and he was determined to know where she and her group were staying.


	12. Too Far

Martinez parked his car away from the prison and ran as close as he could, hiding behind trees to remain concealed. He saw Jolene surrounded by other survivors and examined the set up they had there. Crops, animals and people. He saw how happy the Asian man was when a woman walked out of the prison, greeting him with a kiss, and how a little girl greeted Jolene with a huge hug that almost knocked her down.

Martinez found himself at a crossroad. He knew what had to be done. If The Governor found out that he knew Jolene's whereabouts and didn't say a word, it would be his life on the line as well. Except, he couldn't help but think how life would be on the inside of the penitentiary, to be free of The Governor at last.

"Maggie, Beth, Glenn and I are going out for some family bonding. We're going to pick berries and herbs that are growing around here. We won't go far; we have our knives and guns at hand." Hershel explained to Rick.

"How far are you going?"

"A few yards at most."

"You guys be careful. Andrea, stay in the guard tower and keep watch while they're out." Rick ordered.

"You got it." Andrea grappled her riffle and headed towards the guard tower.

Carl and Clementine took immediate notice to the German shepherd that followed Jolene.

"Can I pet it?" Carl asked before he laid his hand on the dog.

"Go for it, seems friendly enough."

Carl and Clementine ran their fingers through his fur, feeling the softness along with cracks of dried mud.

"Does he have a name?" Clementine asked.

Jolene stared at the dog, deciding between a few names. "Maybe Charlie?"

"Charlie." Carl smirked. "I like it. Can I take him around the prison?"

"Go right on ahead. You should feed him, too, he's pretty skinny." Jolene smiled as Carl and Clementine walked away with Charlie.

"Ima go check on Carol and Sophia." Daryl walked into the prison.

Jolene felt Rick's eyes on her as he stood a few feet behind her, but didn't turn to face him. She felt his vibe change and knew it was towards her, not knowing why and not about to attempt to find out right now, so she walked away, into the prison.

Rick stood there, his eyes burning through Jolene as she walked away. He hated the position he found himself in, and it needed to be dealt with soon.

\----- ----- ----- -----

"I'm so glad you're back." Carol hugged Daryl.

"Ain't no run into town gonna stop me from comin back." He assured her.

"Sophia missed you." Carol smiled as she stared into Daryl's eyes.

Daryl stared back, looking at the woman before him, realizing how much she really cared for him. "Where is she?"

"She's asleep. Clementine and Sophia were playing all day, she's exhausted."

"Mind if I check up on her?"

"By all means. I'm gonna fetch us some water." Carol gently leaned forward and pecked him on the side of his lips with a smile, then walked away.

Daryl briefly chuckled as he stared at Carol walking away. He was caring for Carol and Sophia more and more with each day that passes.

"How cute." Jolene spoke as she stood behind Daryl.

"Shut up." Daryl blushed as he turned to face Jolene, having no idea how long she had been behind him.

"Oh snaps, did Daryl Dixon just blush?" Jolene joked. "I'm surprised you guys don't call each other by cute nick names."

"Psh. You talk to Rick yet?"

"No, why?"

"He seems pissed. Don't know what about."

"So many people here, why do I have to be the one to talk to him?"

"I think we both know why." Daryl walked past her, leaving Jolene confused.

\----- ----- ----- -----

What did he mean by that? Jolene thought to herself. She shrugged it off and headed back outside to tend to the crops.

"We could sneak out, you, me, and Carl. I can protect us. A prison is what Rick thinks is best for you and Carl? Really? We can do better. You and I both know we're meant to be together Lori."

"Shane…" Lori was falling for Shane hard, but felt bad for Rick. She didn't want to literally take Carl away from him, a boy shouldn't grow up without his father. "Don't think I haven't thought about it, but where else is safe? Carl is Rick's son and I just can't take him away…"

"What is Rick going to do? Hire a lawyer and take you to court for custody of Carl? He won't find us."

"Shane…"

"Just think about it." Shane walked out of her cell block, leaving Lori to think about his plan.

\----- ----- ----- -----

"Hey, Joe." Jensen walked up to Jolene as she was picking tomatoes.

"Jensen. How'd the run go with Rick today?"

"Great." He clenched his jaw, hating it when Jolene would mention his name. "You worried me, should have stayed with Daryl and Glenn. I don't want you going out on anymore runs, I don't think you realize how dangerous it is to be alone."

"If Rick can't keep me in here, what makes you think you can?"

"I'm serious, Joe. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you. We were fortunate enough to find each other again. I need to make sure you are safe at all times." He pulled a strand of hair away from her face and hid it behind her ear.

"I was fine; it was the closest I'll ever get to finding clarity."

"I know it wasn't easy for you." Jensen stared into her eyes with sympathy. "If you need to talk about it, I will always be here for you."

"I know. Thank you."

"I got you something." Jensen pulled out a gold heart necklace and held it out for her to see.

Jolene's lips curved north, forming a small smile.

"Found it on the run today, it made me think of you." He moved her hair to the side and gently wrapped it around her neck.

"It's beautiful." Jolene looked into Jensen's hazel eyes as she touched the gold heart by her chest.

"Doesn't come close compared to who's wearing it." He pulled her in for a hug.

Jolene took in his words and realized that he just complimented how she looked. She hoped that it was just a friendly compliment and nothing more.

He caressed the middle of her back as she wrapped her arms around his waist. He badly wanted to confess his feelings for her but knew it still wasn't the right time. Very soon, but not now.

Rick stared at Jolene and Jensen through the fence of the prison court yard. If he didn't do anything soon, the anger and frustration would consume his humanity, it would get the best of him, but at this point he didn't know what to do, he was simply a mess.

"Rick, we need to talk." Lori snuck up behind him.

"What now?" He scolded her.

"I'm getting pretty sick and tired that every time I see my husband he's looking at her." She positioned herself in front of him, getting his eyes off Jolene.

"Yeah? Well, I'm getting pretty sick and tired of you calling me your husband. Let's make it official, Lori, we both know you don't love me anymore, at least not how you used to. It's you and Shane now. You and I, this isn't a marriage anymore. I don't know what it is. So, unless it's regarding Carl, I don't care what it is you have to say. Probably best that you stay out of my way and I out of yours."

"It's over?" Lori's eyes popped out in sudden shock of his words.

"It's been over. Carl told me what he saw this morning when I left for the run."

The bombshell of Carl now knowing turned her skin pale.

"Yeah Lori, he knows. I was gone, your guards were down and didn't realize that Carl saw you and Shane doing God knows what this morning. I love you, Lori…" Saying that he loves Lori was foreign to him at this point, it didn't feel right. He now knew that the love he had for her was long gone. "I loved you. I don't need this crap. You're just a tenant living in my apartments now." Rick walked away with anger boiling in his blood. He loved Lori but not who she had become. Even if she had stopped her relationship with Shane, it would never be the same again. He wouldn't love her the way he used to. Betrayal and resentment were the only things he felt now whenever she's near.

-After Dinner-

"Hopefully, on our next run, I'll find better books for us to read." Jolene mentioned to Clementine as they were both sitting on the bed, their legs crossed. Jolene was braiding Clementine's hair so it wouldn't get messy when she went to bed.

"I hope so, I can't read the other books here." Clementine explained.

"Got a moment?" Rick walked up to her cell door and moved the sheet out of the way.

Jolene stared at Rick for a few seconds before responding. "Yeah."

"Clementine, Carol is going to read a bedtime story to Sophia, why don't you join them?" Rick insisted as his eyes never left Jolene's.

"Okay." Clementine got up and walked out of the cell.

Jolene rose from the bed and stood three inches away from the wall. "What's wrong?" She gulped.

Rick glared at her for a second, then took a few steps closer and looked down at her gold heart necklace around her neck. He was angry, hurt and every emotion that a person could possible feel. They were there, running ragged and messing with his mind, unable to make a clear judgment.

"Jolene." He looked back into her eyes. "That's a beautiful name… were you ever going to tell me your first name?"

Anxiety filled her body as she stared shaking in fear. She bent her head down and closed her eyes. Jolene knew where this was headed, why Rick was acting the way he was, but didn't know how he found out. Considering that he's an officer, this was not going to end well.

"Lauren…" He took a step closer. "Jolene…" Another step. "Glenanne." Rick pushed her up against the wall with his left hand and with his right hand he pulled out the paper from his back pocket, opened it, and shoved it in her face.

Jolene stared at the paper with her picture and information. "Rick… I can explain."

"Multiple felonies and first degree murder. I'd really love to hear your sorry excuse."

"Rick…" She stared into his eyes. The soft and honest eyes she started falling in love with were now filled with cold judgment, and she couldn't handle it, not from Rick.

"I don't even know who you are, so what makes you think I'll believe your excuse? I trusted you and that was my mistake. I trusted you around MY son." He raised his voice.

"Rick…" Jolene whispered.

He released the hold he had on her and took a few steps back as his hand slid down his face.

A blurry Rick was all she could see as tears ran down her cheeks. "I…"

"Rick, we need you. A small herd of walkers are pushing the north side of the fence down." Hershel quickly moved the sheet out of the way to inform Rick, then quickly left.

Rick stared dead into Jolene's eyes for a moment, then turned his back to her and left.

Jolene started sobbing hysterically as he left, falling to her knees. She could handle the world pointing fingers and accusing her of the worst thing possible, but Rick was another story. She couldn't handle Rick treating her like the rest of the world did.

As she somberly sat on the cold floor, she pulled out her hunting knife and held out her wrist after she vowed to herself in the past that she would never do it again, and fell into her old habits. She couldn't take the forlorn heartbreak anymore.

"I carved our names in the wood to hang outside our cells. You think Joe would like hers?" Beth showed Maggie.

"I can't see why not." Maggie smiled.

"I'm gonna give it to her now." Beth got up from her bed.

"She might be asleep already. Plus, Glenn told us to stay in our cells until they clear out the walkers outside."

"I'll be fine. Her cell isn't far. If she's asleep, I'll wait till tomorrow." Beth assured Maggie, then walked out of her cell and towards Jolene's.

Beth heard Joe weeping as she walked up to her cell. "Joe." She slightly moved the sheet out of the way. Beth took a peek inside and dropped Joe's carving to the floor with her heart pounding 90 miles per hour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now Martinez knows where Jolene is staying so will he tell The Governor or have a change of heart?  
> Jolene a murderer? What? That can't be right? Why was her motive? Will Rick let her explain?  
> What was Jolene doing in her cell that had Beth in shock? 0_0


	13. Acceptance

"Joe!" Beth rushed to Jolene.

"Don't tell anyone." Jolene wept as she held on tight to her bloody wrist.

Beth kicked her hunting knife that laid on the floor and bent down to her aid. "Joe, you can't do this." She pulled down the sheet that rested on the bed and wrapped it around her left wrist. "I have to have my dad look at it, make sure you don't need stitches."

"No." Jolene sniffed. "It's not too deep. Please, you can't tell anyone, please." She begged, staring into Beth's eyes. "I know how to take care of it. I just need alcohol to disinfect it. There's a small bottle of vodka in my backpack…please."

Beth reached over, picking up the knife and putting it in her back pocket for safe keeping.

"I've been where you're at. I've slit my wrist, too." Beth dug into Jolene's backpack and pulled out the small bottle of vodka. "Wanted to kill myself and even tried to convince Maggie to do it with me. I just didn't want to live anymore and didn't want to be alone. Except we all got jobs to do, that's what Daddy says. We need to stay strong, even though it's tough." Beth poured vodka on Jolene's wrist.

Jolene flinched as she felt the sting of alcohol pierce through the open cuts.

"You're not alone anymore. You got us." Beth wiped down Jolene's wrist with a cleaner part of the sheet. "I'll wash your sheet tomorrow." She got up on both feet and looked around for any sharp objects. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna tell Maggie I'm staying with you tonight."

"You don't need to, I'll be fine. I just had a moment of weakness." Jolene struggled to rise up.

She had a moment of weakness, back to old habits, stemming from when her self esteem was at an all time low from being beaten down by the world. Jolene knew it was imprudent, unwise, and even a bit selfish, now knowing that it wasn't going to accomplish anything.

Beth helped Jolene up and sat her down on the bed. "Lay down. I'll be right back."

\----- ----- ----- -----

"Is everything under control?" Carol walked towards Daryl, who was standing by her cell door.

"Walkers almost took the fence down, but Rick's quick thinkin' took care of it."

"Thank goodness."

"Just came to check up on ya. Night." Daryl turned his back to her and started walking away.

"Daryl."

"Mmhum." He looked back at her.

"I don't want to be alone tonight. Sophia is sleeping in the next cell over with Clementine. You think you could sleep in here with me?"

Daryl thought about it for a second. What harm could there be? He walked over to her bed with Carol by his side and the two of them laid down. A small groan of relaxation escaped his mouth. Carol turned her back to him, grabbed his hand, and wrapped his arm around her.

Daryl was surprised that she was so forward with the sleeping arrangements, but didn't argue with it. He started to like the idea of sleeping with a woman with no intentions besides sleeping, and settled in, burying his face in the back of her neck, which Carol absolutely loved. She felt his warm, steady breath tickling the back of her neck. It made her feel safe, as if nothing else in the world existed. They both drifted out to space, with Daryl spooning Carol.

\----- ----- ----- -----

Jolene got up from her sleep and looked over to see Beth lying right next to her, holding her hand. They had both fallen asleep as they were having a heart to heart talk. Jolene warmly smiled as she gently released Beth's grip around her hand. As she got on her feet and looked down at Beth, she realized that she indeed had a friend in her, but it wasn't enough. In Rick's eyes, she was a stranger again, a stranger this time he wouldn't trust. She couldn't take another confrontation with him. Shane and Lori both wanted her gone, so she was going to grant it.

Jolene gently pulled out her hunting knife from Beth's back pocket, trying not to wake her, and began to pack her belongings in her backpack. She grabbed the pencil that was on top of Clementine's notebook that she left in her cell, pulled out a piece of paper and jotted down her last thought.

 

"Can't redeem what I did so I will suffer alone.

Take care of Clementine. I'm sorry."

 

Jolene left the note next to Beth and quietly slipped away. She made her way into the cafeteria for a water bottle before she left, packed two of them in her backpack, then took a quick look inside Hershel's medical bag for a bandage.

"Where are you going?" Lori walked in the cafeteria for a water bottle as well. She noticed the backpack hanging from Jolene's shoulder and wanted to know what she was up to.

"What's it to you?" Jolene didn't bother turning to face her as she wrapped her wrist with a white bandage she found deep inside the medical bag.

Lori glared callously at Jolene, as if she was the devil. "Bitch." She mumbled under her breath, reaching for a water bottle that laid on top of the cafeteria lunch table.

"I'm not deaf, I can hear your dirty mouth." Jolene turned to face her.

"Okay, you're a bitch. You walk in here thinking you are one of us and you break my marriage apart."

"Oh yeah, I'm the one that broke your marriage apart because Rick and I are madly in love with each other." Jolene sarcastically smirked. "You broke your marriage by slutting around with Shane. You have clearly lost sight of who you had in front of you. Rick is nothing but a complete gentleman. Nothing is going on between us. He's faithful, unlike you."

Lori's eyes bugged out, the detestation she had for Jolene wanted to physically burst its way out.

"Don't worry, you got nothing to worry about anymore, I'm leaving. Just came in to get some water before I hit the road." Her smirk deepened, shooting Lori a dagger stabbing glare. You must think you have it all; you have your husband that you neglect around your boney little finger and your boy toy on the side…just how you like it." Jolene brushed past her.

She made her way outside the prison and noticed Rick was out in the prison yard keeping watch. Shit, now I can't leave through the front gate. Rerouting her path, she proceeded to the back of the prison.

"Rick!" Beth scurried out of the prison and headed towards Rick. "Rick!"

Rick turned around and paced towards Beth, fully alert and worried.

"Joe's gone." Beth handed Rick the note Jolene left. "I fell asleep with her in her cell about two hours ago, she couldn't be too far, right? You need to find her. She told me not to tell but she tried to kill herself, she stopped before it got too far, but I'm afraid she might do it again."

Rick ran both his hands down his face, still holding on to the note. "You did the right thing telling me. I'll find her, go back inside." Rick ran to the back of the prison. He knew that she would have left from the back since he was keeping guard on the front and sides of the prison.

Jolene pulled out the pliers she packed to clip the fence along with some wire to tie the fence back together, but she wasn't fast enough.

"Jolene!" Rick yelled from a distance.

Jolene deeply sighed, Rick was the last person she wanted to see. She leaned her forehead on the fence, looking down with her heart beating rapidly; remembering that awful night that changed her life.

 

*****Flash*****Back*****Jolene's*****Past*****

"You made me do this!" Justin screamed out.

Jolene wrapped her hands around his, attempting to loosen the firm grip on her delicate neck, but the lack of blood flowing through her head was making her weak and her vision was quickly fading. Her left hand flopped away and reached out for the knife she dropped. Out of pure luck, her fingers touched the blade, started to scrape the knife closer to her. She gripped the handle and with the last bit of energy she had left to muster up, swiftly penetrated the knife through his neck without a second thought other than survival.

Justin collapsed on top of her, he was bleeding out and in a blink of an eye, he was dead. Jolene laid there sobbing, with her husband's dead body on top of her. With her energy slowly returning, she pushed him off her. She slowly got up from the floor and started crying hysterically as the sight of his lifeless body and the puddle of blood. Not realizing her palms were already stained with his blood, she wiped her husband's blood off of her face with her palms. Jolene slowly pulled the knife out of his neck, staring at the blood-spattered scalpel that both saved and changed her life, not being able to believe what she had done. She grabbed a rag from the table and wiped down the blade, ridding it of her fingerprints before quickly leaving the house and drove away, never looking back.

After an hour of driving, she pulled over at a gas station, grabbed the loose change she had in the glove compartment, and ran up to a pay phone.

"Hello." Jensen answered.

"Jensen…I'm so scared." Jolene sobbed.

"Jolene? What's going on?"

"I can't go back home…he was going to kill me."

"Justin? Where are you? I'll go…"

"No." Jolene cut him off. "He's dead. I had no choice."

Jensen didn't speak a word. He was shocked but knew that it was self defense. He was angry that he wasn't there to protect her.

"You believe me right?" Jolene whispered.

"Of…of course. Jolene, where are you? I can help…"

"I'm too far gone. I can't go back. I don't want to bring you in this mess."

"Jolene, we'll hire a lawyer and we'll sort this whole mess out. I won't let you go through this alone. I…"

"Justin's family never liked me and they have all the money in the world to convict me. All I can do is run now. I have to go. I'm sorry."

"Jolene, no…" Jensen's voice faded from her ear as she hung up the phone. She gently banged her head on the phone that rested on the hook. Out of everyone in the world, she would miss Jensen the most. Her heart had completely shattered, with all the sharp pieces stabbing her insides, knowing she would never see him again.

*****End*****Flash*****Back*****

 

"Jolene!" Rick grabbed her shoulder and promptly turned her to him.

"Don't touch me." Jolene pushed his hands away.

"What are you thin…?" Rick couldn't finish his sentence. So many things he wanted to say at once and he got tangled in his words. He ran his hand down his mouth and jaw in frustration as he threw her note on the ground.

"Suicide?" He snarled.

"I guess Beth woke up." Jolene sighed.

"Are you…"

"I didn't go through with it! I'm not strong enough and I can't take back what I've done but I didn't go through with it. If I'm going to die, I'm gonna go out swingin' and alone. I realize that now."

"Jolene…"

"No! I killed my husband." Tears slowly slid down her cheeks. "Self defense. He took it too far that night and I knew it was all over for me. I kept crying and begging, but he just wanted me to hurt. He beat me, started choking me to death, so I reached for the knife and killed him. His father was loaded, a senator…he hired the best lawyers and actors to make me out as a murderer. The so called "witnesses" lied to the cops and said that I killed him to cash in the life insurance. The felonies were years before I met Justin. I didn't live well and had to occasionally break the law just to eat. We were poor. Believe what you want…I'm not a bad person. I am not a murderer. I just didn't want to die, not like that and not by him. So I ran, went into hiding."

Rick stood there, taken aback from what was just unloaded. "Jolene…" He slowly stepped toward her.

"No. Don't get near me." Jolene backed up. "I trusted you, I let my guard down. I have been called so many things in life but being called a murderer from you…you put your hands on me and pushed me against the wall." Jolene wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I can handle being put down from my husband, my mom, my brother, Shane, Lori, hell even the whole fuckin' world but coming from you…God, why does it hurt so bad coming from you?"

"Hey, Rick." Daryl called out as he was walking towards Rick and Jolene.

She rubbed her temples, trying to relieve her headache as Rick walked towards Daryl. Jolene knew she couldn't leave now, so she adjusted the backpack on her shoulder and power walked her way back to her cell, not wanting Daryl to see that she was crying.

Jolene threw her backpack to the corner of her cell and collapsed on the bed, landing on her stomach and crashed for the rest of what was left of the night.

-Fifteen minutes later-

Rick walked into her cell, holding on to a white flower that he picked out by the fence. He stared at her sleeping, feeling terrible for putting his hands on her and the cruel words that left his mouth. The day they met, he had told her to trust him, and he didn't live up to his word. He slowly made his way to her bedside and laid the flower down on the pillow above her head that she wasn't using. Staring down at Jolene, all he wanted to do was to hold her, to make her feel better and apologize a million times.

Rick left her cell and checked on Carl. He was sound asleep with the walkie talkie in his hand. He made his way to his bed and laid down, but knew that sleep was never going to happen for him tonight. Every problem he had would prevent it. The weight of the dead world was on his shoulders, with everyone looking to him as their leader. How was he going to keep all these people safe and how was he going to earn Jolene's trust back?

-Morning-

"Mommy." Sophia stood by Carol's cell door. She was surprised to see her mother cuddling with Daryl and knew that he was now going to be her new father. "Mommy."

Sophia's voice broke into Carol's dream and woke her up. She looked over to Sophia as her leg was wrapped over Daryl.

"Is Daryl my daddy now?"

"Hmm." Daryl rubbed his eyes as he slowly started waking up.

"Are you going to be my new daddy?" Sophia asked Daryl.

"What?" Daryl quickly sat up and looked over to Sophia.

"Honey, go find Clementine and Carl. I'll have breakfast ready in a bit." Carol got up and shoed Sophia away. "Go on."

Carol turned back to face Daryl as Sophia left. "I'm sorry. I didn't expect her to catch us sleeping together."

"Uh, yeah." Daryl was completely dumbfounded.

"I'm not expecting you to live up to that. I wouldn't ask for such a thing." Carol saw the shock and uncertainty in his face. "I'm sorry." She walked out to get breakfast started, feeling both meek and small.

Daryl stood there, thinking about it. He cared deeply for them, but to have Sophia think of him as a father was out of his grasp. He wasn't the fatherly type but he knew where this was headed, that eventually things will progress with Carol. Maybe I should get used to being called "Daddy." he thought to himself. It wasn't the role he wanted to take in. However, he knew it was inevitable.

\----- ----- ----- -----

"Jolene. Wake up." Clementine jumped on the bed and gently shook Jolene's shoulder.

Jolene wasn't waking up. She heard Clementine but was exhausted and didn't want to respond.

"Charlie, come here." Clementine clapped her hands and Charlie jumped on the bed, licking Jolene's face.

"Ah, gross." Jolene gently pushed Charlie away from her.

"Carl got mad at me."

"Why'd he get mad at you?" Jolene sat up.

"He said I put a bug on his pillow when he was sleeping." She got off the bed.

"Well, did you?"'

Clementine's eyes looked left and right and her lips formed a small yet sneaky smile. "Yes."

Jolene chuckled as she got up and started stretching. "Well, maybe you should apologize. He doesn't think it's funny like you do."

"Okay. Come on, Charlie." Clementine walked out.

Jolene looked at her bed, noticing a white flower on her pillow. She picked it up and sniffed the freshness the flower emitted.

"Clem." Jolene called out before she got too far.

Clementine walked back and poked her head in. "Yeah."

"You leave this here?" Jolene showed the flower to her.

"No." Clementine responded, then disappeared.

Jolene sniffed it again, wondering who left it.

\----- ----- ----- -----

"Beth, what's that you're washing?" Hershel walked up behind her as she was washing Jolene's bloody sheet.

"Nothing, Daddy. Just doing laundry is all."

"Laundry was done yesterday. Why is it covered with blood?"

Beth resisted. She didn't want to say word and already felt like she betrayed Jolene's trust by telling Rick.

"I'm your father, whatever happened that involves you and blood is my problem, too."

Beth inhaled and slowly exhaled, giving in to her father. "Jolene tried to kill herself last night, but she's okay now. She didn't go through with it and told me not to tell anyone. I stayed with her last night to make sure she was alright, and when I was asleep, she ran away. Rick caught her before she left."

Hershel stood there silently, knowing what he had to do. He already dealt with Beth trying to commit suicide and now he was going to have to deal with Jolene, because he was tired of seeing people die and wanting to be dead. He wouldn't have it anymore, not on his watch.

\----- ----- ----- -----

"May I have a word?" Hershel walked in Jolene's cell, holding her damp sheet.

Jolene sighed as she saw the sheet in his hands, knowing that he found out about what happened last night.

"It took a whole lot of convincing to talk Beth out of suicide. You both are a lot alike." Hershel laid the sheet on her bed.

Rick was walking to Jolene's cell to confront her but stopped when he realized Hershel had beaten him to it. He rested his back to the wall by her cell door and listened to what Hershel was saying.

"No, we're not. See, I never had a father to talk me out of suicide. Hell, if I knew the bastard, he'd probably tell me to do it. I don't have a family who cares two shits about me. Everyone here has a connection somehow, but I don't. I'm on the outside looking in. If I went through with it last night, it wouldn't have been a loss. So if you're coming in here to tell me to look on the bright side and that everything is going to be okay, save it. Because it's the last thing I want to hear. The only reason I'm still here is because your daughter blabbed to Rick."

Even though Hershel wasn't in her shoes, he felt her pain. "You are so blind. I know for a fact Rick cares a great deal for you. Why else would he fight so hard to keep you here? Clementine is in your hands. She doesn't look up to Rick or me, she looks up to you. My daughters adore you. Glenn, Carl, Carol, Sophia, Daryl and Jensen care for you. I care for you."

"Enough with the speech, you're not my father. If you knew what I've done…"

"You don't need to be blood to be family. Let's make it official. I hereby declare you my daughter."

Jolene tilted her head slightly to the right, wondering why he even cared.

"It doesn't matter what you've done in the past, what matters is what you do now to survive. I've gotten to know you, to see who you are. You protect Clementine like she's your own. You may have not known your biological father, but if he knew who you were he'd be damn ashamed to have missed out on your life. I see you adapting and growing. You care and it makes me damn proud to call you my daughter."

Jolene's lips twitched, holding back her every emotion. She had always wondered what it would be like to have a father and to hear Hershel, a man who she grew to respect, say what he said, it made her choke up inside.

"We can't choose our demons, but we can choose our families. We are family."

Jolene couldn't hold it anymore, tried but failed. She quietly sobbed, tears quickly rolling down and dropping to the floor.

Rick knew that everything Hershel told Jolene was exactly what she needed. If anyone could make better of things it was Hershel. She needed to feel a sense of belonging and it was something that only Hershel could give. Rick walked away, not wanting to disturb the beauty of a new family.

Hershel stepped closer and Jolene wrapped her arms around his back. Hershel wrapped his arms around her and softly patted her back, comforting his daughter. Jolene knew she was finally home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Hershel took Jolene under his wing, making her one of his own, which is something I think Jolene really needed. Looks like she isn't going anywhere. Lets not forget Martinez knows Jolene's whereabouts. Will this cause a riot to the prison? Will Rick be able to fix where he went wrong? Daryl a daddy? Hmm, well why not? I think he'll make a pretty awesome dad even though he isn't "Father material." I mean, Daryl and Carol will hook up, right?


	14. Before the Fall

-That Night-

Martinez had parked his car half a mile away, behind thick trees and continued on foot to the prison. His shoulder was carrying a heavy black and orange back pack that was filled with supplies that he needed for his survival. He didn’t know if surrendering to Jolene and the people in the prison would be a wise move but he was taking the risk. If they wouldn’t accept him into their group then he would move on to anywhere but Woodbury. 

He stood behind a tree and looked into the prison. He saw two little girls, a little boy, two women and two men sitting around a small fire, eating and smiling. He knew by the look of them that they were good people, people he would be willing to fight for, to keep safe. Martinez took a deep breath and lifted his right leg forward to take a step. 

*Click* “Where do you think you’re goin?” The Governor cocked his gun and aimed it to the back of Martinez’s head.

Martinez froze in his tracks for a moment then slowly turned around. The Governor’s gun was now one inch away from the middle of his forehead. 

“Scouting out the place. Trying to find a clear way in.” Martinez lied through his teeth.

“Why.” The Governor glanced down at his obviously heavy back pack.

“Jolene’s in there. I found her and wanted to know what we were up against.” His heart suddenly overfilled with guilt. He had no idea The Governor was following him the whole time.

The Governor glared hard at him, he knew he was lying but was going to play along for now. “Is that so?”

Martinez clenched his jaw, ashamed of being a coward and ratting Jolene out just to save himself. “Yeah.”

The Governor put his gun down and gazed out into the prison, surprised that people have actually made a prison their sanctuary. “She’s in there?”

“Yeah, there’s more people inside but it’s a small group. Nothing we can’t handle.” Martinez looked down, knowing it was all over now. He knew that The Governor will take everyone down in that prison just to get to Jolene and the fact that there are children involved gave him a dull, sour tasted in his mouth.

The Governor was now planning his way in and a feeling of orgasmic satisfaction ran from head to toe, thinking about the things he was going to do to Jolene. “Well, I think it’s time she comes back home.”

\----- ----- ----- -----

“Hey, something’s out there.” Clementine stood up and looked out to the trees.

Andrea, Carol, Daryl and Jensen got up from the floor and stood up. Andrea picked up her shot gun and looked through the scope to see what was rummaging around in the trees.

“See anything?” Daryl took a few steps forward to the fence to get a better look as he aimed his flashlight through the dark night.

“I don’t see anything.” Andrea responded.

“Probably just an animal.” Jensen tried to keep Clementine, Sophia and Carl calm.

“It’s alright sweetheart.” Carol rocked Sophia in her arms. “It was just an animal.”

\----- ----- ----- -----

“Joe.” Beth tucked the sheet to the side, to stay out of her way and walked into Jolene’s cell.

“Hey.” Jolene stepped towards Beth.

“I want to apologize. You trusted me to keep your secret and…”

“No need to apologize. I shouldn’t have told you to keep quiet. I put too much on you. I’m sorry.” Jolene surprised Beth with a hug. “Thank you.”

“You’re family, Joe. Remember that.” Beth hugged her back.

Jolene saw Rick walk up to her cell. He stood by the door, waiting to be granted permission to enter. Beth felt the presence of someone behind her and they both slipped away from the hug. Jolene took a few steps back and looked down, not wanting to look at him. Beth turned to see Rick waiting by the door and got the hint.

“Good night Joe. Rick.” Beth walked out of sight.

Rick un tucked the sheet once Beth had left so they could have some privacy.

“Queen Bee’s gonna throw a bitch fit if she finds out you’re in here.” 

“What I do shouldn’t concern her. Not anymore.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Jolene quickly glanced up to him.

“What Lori and I had is over. It’s been over.”

Did he just say he ended things with Lori? A great euphoria quickly lifted Jolene from the pit of her depression knowing it was finally over between them. A father who would go through great lengths just to keep everyone safe and alive deserved better than Lori but all of that quickly sank down to the pit by what had happened yesterday.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that. You deserve better.” Jolene brushed past him and moved the sheet out of the way to leave. She wasn’t up to hear anything else he had to say because she didn’t know if she would be able to handle it.

“Jolene, please.” Rick firmly but gently grabbed her right wrist, not wanting her to leave.

Jolene looked down to the floor and let go of the sheet but didn’t turn to face him. Any kind of contact with Rick made her feel weaker and his dry, rough hand wrapped around her wrist put her in a trance. For a moment she forgot what had happened, she loved how his strong hand didn’t let her go. 

Jolene sucked it all up, took a deep breath and finally turned to face him. Ricks let go of her wrist when he finally had her full attention. Her eyes were drawn to his blue eyes. It looked like he had been crying before he entered her cell and yet, they were still so hypnotically beautiful. She was now looking into the eyes she had trusted and fallen in love with, filled with honesty and sorrow, asking nothing but forgiveness. 

“You’re a father trying to keep his family alive. The world’s gone to shit and you don’t know who to trust anymore. Lori and Shane don’t make things any easier for you and you got a handful of people who put their lives in your hands. You were overwhelmed, I understand.”

“Don’t make up an excuse for me. I don’t deserve it. I could have approached you about it a better way. I was wrong to judge you, I shouldn’t have done that. I wish I could take it back but I can’t and it’s eating me up inside knowing that I broke whatever we had.” Rick clenched his jaw and held back the tears that wanted to bolt out. He hated himself for making such a beautiful and caring woman cry and almost take her own life. The thought of losing her was unbearable for him to take in. 

“I don’t know what I would’ve done if you had gone through with what you almost did. I almost lost you and I…” He exhaled softly and ran his right hand through his hair. “I can’t lose you. Please don’t go. I’m sorry, Jolene.”

They both stood there not knowing that the others heart was beating out of their chest. Everything that has happened between them was just too real to take in. To them, it felt like a dreadful nightmare. Here they are, both looking into each other’s eyes. Rick couldn’t believe that he was falling in love with such a character. 

Even though Jolene had a glimmer of hope that in the end it would be Rick who sweeps her off her feet, she wasn’t betting on it and definitely not going to go for it. He has a son and his son has a mother, a mother who loathed her. “Life’s too short to hold grudges, don’t you think?”

Rick’s eyes shifted down to the white bandage around her left wrist. His fingers cupped under Jolene’s palm and lifted her hand close to his abdomen. His left hand feathered over the bandage then slowly started unwrapping. Jolene closed her eyes, ashamed of what he was about to uncover. She gulped hard and slowly opened her eyes when she felt her wrist finally air out. She saw the hurt and concern etched onto his face. 

Rick knew he caused her to do this to herself and it was tearing him apart to see it. He gently wrapped the bandage back to her wrist, then lifted her wrist an inch higher. His head bent down to slowly kiss the bandage over her wound then slowly released her.

Rick rubbed the back of his neck, feeling ashamed as he looked down to the floor. “You should get your rest. It’s been a long day.” He turned away from her to exit the cell.

“Rick.” 

Rick stopped and turned to her.

Jolene crossed her arms, holding herself for comfort. “You said you broke whatever we had. What did we have?”

Rick searched her face with his eyes. Her face was serious, wanting to know the truth about whatever it was that he felt. Her deep brown eyes reminded him of the winter trees at nightfall and they were rather reflective; looking into her eyes always brought warmth to his heart, as if every problem he had could be solved within her chestnut eyes.   
He didn’t know if he could say what he was feeling for her, he found himself to be lost in his words lately. Rick gripped behind her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug. He firmly wrapped his arms over her as her arms were still wrapped around herself. He needed to finally feel how she felt, he needed to hold her.

The hug completely caught Jolene off guard. She stood there, stiff for a few seconds then un wrapped her arms but resisted to hug him back. She tossed every inch of fear to the side and went in for it, she wrapped her arms around his waist and it was perfect. His firm arms held her tight, her arms were around his fit waist and she mentally melted into him. She had always imagined how it would feel like to be held by him and her imagination did not come close to the real thing. She immediately felt safe in his hold. She heard his heart beat drumming faster as his grip on her tightened. 

Rick did not want this moment to end. Her body was pressed up to his and he loved it. He mustered up the courage and looked down to her. Jolene looked up to him and he laid his lips on the top of her forehead, giving her a small peck. 

Jolene felt the heat burning through her forehead where he had kissed her. She pursed her lips, the already strong palpitations continued to rise, as if her heart was going to come flying out of her mouth. She had never experienced this level of nervousness before.

He gazed into those eyes he was falling in love with, he had her in his arms and this was it. He had to tell her what he felt for her, it was now or never because for all he knows, in this world they are living in now, he could be dead tomorrow. “Jolene.”

“Joe.” Clementine scampered in and jumped onto the bed with the walkie talkie in her hand. Andrea was behind Clementine and stood by the cell door.

Rick and Jolene quickly backed away from each other. Jolene nervously cleared her throat and Rick rubbed the back of his neck, frustrated that he had to wait a little longer to confess to her.

“I saw something moving in the trees outside. Andrea let me check through the scope of her shot gun to ease my mind. I think it was a deer, that’s what Daryl said.” 

“We’re pretty sure it was just an animal. Daryl and I are going out hunting tomorrow at dawn. He wanted me to let you know so you won’t wonder where we are when you wake.” She stared at Rick. “Good night you guys.” 

“Joe, can you braid my hair, please. I’m getting sleepy.” Clementine dug through her back pack and pulled out her hair brush.

“I’ll uh, leave you two at it then. Good night.” Rick trudged away.

 

-The Next Day-Evening-

Jolene had spent her day helping Hershel farm and spent time with Clementine, Maggie, Beth and Glenn. She didn’t see much of Rick except for breakfast and lunch and when they crossed paths in the prison. When Rick and Jolene would glance at each other it was torture. Rick wanted to spend the whole day with her as did Jolene but they all had jobs to do, jobs to keep the prison safe and running.

Sunset was creeping up on the prison. Everyone had finished eating dinner and Jolene went outside with a sharpie at hand. She looked at the cracked, blank concrete wall, picturing what she wanted to draw then made it happen. The black lines escaping the sharpie formed into a simple looking woman.

\----- ----- ----- -----

Rick had picked a few white flowers that was growing on the sides of the fence and laid them down in the middle of Jolene’s bed. He wanted to make sure she sleeps with a smile tonight. God, she’s positively radiant. He found himself smiling thinking of her smile. Then he really started thinking. This isn’t love, it can’t be. We haven’t known each other for that long. Maybe a crush? I’m a grown man, I don’t crush anymore…I think. I can’t deny that I’m really like her…can this really be love? I haven’t felt like this in years. I think…maybe I am.

\----- ----- ----- -----

“Damn, didn’t know you were an artist.” Daryl snuck up behind Jolene.

“I used to doddle a lot.” Jolene glanced back at him.

“That’s no doddle, that’s art. It’s like one of those amazing murals I’ve seen on buildings.”

Jolene smiled and continued to draw. She was never complimented before on her drawings and to hear Daryl pay her a compliment flattered her.

“Everything alright?” Daryl stared at her right hand that was controlling the sharpie.

Jolene stopped drawing, put the cap back on and turned to him. “Everything’s fine. Why you ask?”

Daryl slightly shook his head. “Nothin.” He tried to shrug it off. He knew she was crying that night at the back of the prison when she was talking to Rick and had picked up that they had a thing for each other. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. He started to really care for Jolene, she was a good person and it’s a rare trait now a days.

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Carl was astonished with Jolene’s drawing as he walked over to her with Clementine, Sophia and Charlie by his side.

“Here.” Jolene handed Carl the sharpie. “Feel free to add the finishing touches.” She smiled and took a step back.

Carl stared at it and did not want to touch it. He was afraid of messing up a beautiful drawing. 

“Can I try?” Sophia looked to Carl.

Carl handed over the sharpie and stared at Sophia to see what she would draw.

Daryl noticed that Sophia tried to emulate what Jolene had drew. She started getting a little frustrated because she wasn’t achieving. “Let me help you out a bit.” Daryl bent down to her level and held her hand, helping her draw like Jolene. Clementine was coaching Sophia and Daryl on how to draw, as if she knew exactly how Jolene did it.

Jolene stepped away a bit and looked out into the sunset. She was lost in her thoughts, mostly of Rick.

“You okay?” Carl walked over to her.

“Yeah.” Jolene continued to stare out.

“You know, you are one of us.” Carl assured her.

Jolene looked down to him. Now she was certain everyone knew what she had done to herself. “Thanks. It actually means a lot coming from you.” She patted his shoulder. “You alright?”

“I guess…it’s just…”

“If anything’s wrong you can always talk to me.” Jolene wanted nothing more than to make sure Carl knew he could talk to her about anything.

“Everyone here thinks I’m just a kid. That I don’t know anything, but I do. I know about my mom and Shane. I know that my mom and dad called off their marriage. She keeps thinking that you and my dad are together and I know that Shane is planning on leaving and wants me to go with him and my mom.”

Jolene tilted her head in disbelief. She knew Carl knew something was going on despite everyone trying to keep it away from him but didn’t think he knew it all and was shocked to hear that Shane was planning on leaving with Lori and planning on taking Carl. How could she think about taking away Rick’s son? 

“Out of everything that’s going on, the only thing that bothers me the most is that I might be leaving. I don’t want to go. I want to stay here with Beth, Maggie, Glenn, Hershel, Sophia, Clementine, Daryl, Andrea, Carol, Charlie, my dad and you.”

Jolene was lost in her mind full of questions. “Does your dad know?”

“No. The thought of just being with my mom and Shane and not having you and my dad around makes me feel like…I love my mom but I don’t know…It’s safer here. I want to be with my dad and you guys more.” 

“Carl.” Lori snarled. She didn’t want Carl anywhere near Jolene. “Time to come inside.” Lori laid her hand to his back and gently pushed him away from Jolene and into the prison.  
Daryl stood there, glancing over at what was going on, he heard everything Carl and Jolene were saying to each other even though they were speaking from a distance in a low tone. Daryl stared at Lori walking away. What a bitch.

“Hey Clem, help Sophia get things ready for bed wontcha?”

“Okay.” Clementine took on the task. “Come one Sophia.” Clementine walked into the prison with Sophia and Charlie by her side.

“So you and Carol?” Jolene walked over to Daryl. She brought up the first thing on her mind before Daryl confronted her about what just happened. She didn’t want to talk about it.

“Psh, what about us?”

“Nothin.”

Daryl’s eyes wondered off behind Jolene, suddenly she felt someone’s presence behind her. Daryl handed Jolene the sharpie and walked away.

“It was a beautiful day today.” Jolene softly spoke. She knew that it was Rick who was standing behind her.

“Yeah, it still is.” Rick stared at her hair that was up in a pony tail. 

“As dumb as it sounds saying it now a days, how was your day?” Jolene lightly twirled to face him.

“Daryl, Andrea and I reinforced the south side of the fences, kids were being kids and we have enough supplies to last a good while. Today was a good day.”

Jolene smiled as she leaned her back against the mural she was working on and looked out into the sunset, with her thumbs resting in her snug front pockets. 

“When did you learn how to draw like that?” Rick admired the woman she drew.

“I taught myself. I’ve been doing it since I was Clementine’s age.”

“She’s beautiful, but not as beautiful as the artist.” Rick leaned his back to the wall by Jolene.

Jolene kept her eyes on the sunset. She tried everything in her power to not blush or show any kind of emotion but she could feel the tingling red in her cheeks. “So what were you going to tell me? You know, before Clementine interrupted.”

Rick turned his head to her and got lost in her beauty. His eyes quickly gazed down to the curves of her body then back to her angelic face. He wanted to hold her again, to touch her soft skin. He didn’t know how much longer he could keep his hands to himself. Now has to be the time. “I…”

“Rick!” Shane stormed outside, holding onto a crumbled up piece of paper, with Lori hiding behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, Rick and Jolene just can't seem to catch a break! Anyways, keep a look out for the next chapter. There is going to be a major change for the group!


	15. The End

“You got anything you wanna tell us?” Shane was at the high peak of madness, he felt he was going to blow at any second as he rushed over to Rick and Jolene.

Rick and Jolene caught eye of the crumbled up piece of paper in his hand and right off the bat, they knew trouble has finally arrived. Rick took a few steps in front of Jolene to keep her away from Shane and Lori. Carl slowly hid behind the wall a few feet away from the commotion, wanting to know exactly what was going on.

“Shane...” Rick tried to simmer down the fuse that was about to blow out.

“You brought a murderer here? To where Lori sleeps, to where Carl sleeps? Did you fuckin’ lose your mind?!?” Shane roared as he smoothed out the paper and waved it in the air like a mad man.

“If you just let us explain…” Rick was quickly interrupted.

“Explain what? You saw a hot piece of ass and fell for her sorry excuse of…”

“Hey!” Rick defended.

“I know that’s why she’s here, Rick.” Lori interjected.

Jensen and Hershel slowly walked up behind Carl and joined him to see what all the fuss was about. Hershel was about to confront Carl on how it was inappropriate from him to snoop around in other people's conversations, but was distracted by what he had heard.

“You’d rather have a murderer by your side than your own wife. You knew who she was and you still brought her here. You endangered us all; you are putting your son’s life at risk!” Her loud hoarse voice started to crack.

“Don’t use that on me! You’d rather have Shane by your side than your own husband. Who really ended our marriage first, Lori? What Jolene did…”

Shane scratched the back of his head, trying to contain himself from throwing the first punch to Rick. He stared hard at Jolene who was silently looking down to the floor. “You gonna say something, sunshine, or are you gonna keep quiet like a bitch?”

“Don’t…” Rick defended but was quickly interrupted by another voice.

“What the fuck did you just call her?" Jensen rushed over and pushed himself into the middle of the commotion.

“I see how this is. You’re judging me for having Rick and Shane around my finger, when here you are doing the same thing with Jensen and my husband!” Lori took a few steps forward to confront Jolene.

“I called her what a female dog is, a bitch.” Shane leaped forward to Jensen, breaking into his personal space. Their faces an inch apart, ready to beat down one another.

Rick was at his boiling point, things were getting out of hand and he had to calm it down before everything went haywire. “Damn it, Shane! There’s a way to deal with this, just…”

“Just what?” Shane stepped away from Jensen and back to Rick. “We’re officers, we’re trained to deal with people like her and you throw it all away! Just because she batted her lashes at you and told you some piss ass story of why she’s innocent, right! Jolene’s a murderer, Rick. In this world, it’s black and white, there’s no room for grey. She murdered someone, what are you not understanding?!? How do you know she’s telling you the truth? Bitches lie, Rick!”

“Why don’t you shut your fuckin’ mouth before I drop you right here! Don’t you dare call her that!” Jensen threatened. “You have no idea what she’s endured!”

Shane threw out a frustrated smirk and turned his head to Lori. “And you want to stay here? I told you, we should have taken Carl and jammed out of here this morning.”

Rick finally snapped. Shane trying to take Carl away from him broke his sanity wall down, it was the final straw. “Why don’t you two do me that favor and leave? Take off and we’ll see how far you get but don’t you dare try to take my child away from me and have him call you "daddy"! I will kill you where you stand before I let that happen, do you understand?” Rick narrowed his now darkened eyes and firmly wrapped his fingers around the grip of his Colt Python that rested in his holster, threatening Shane that he has put up with enough.

“Rick, you need to calm down.” Lori’s eyes never left sight of Rick’s hand on his gun, anxious that things were going to get out of hand. “Carl is my son; I carried him for nine grueling months and…”

“Don’t you play that cheap card on me! It would be over my dead body before I leave Carl in the hands of a mother who can’t keep an eye on him and a testosterone, hot headed backstabber!” Rick bawled.

“Yeah, leaving Carl with a man who thinks a prison is a home and a murderer. You’re raising a weak boy.” Shane insulted.

Jensen had heard enough, he was sick of hearing Shane’s obnoxious voice. He raised his hand and pushed forward as he formed a fist and threw Shane back with a punch to the jaw.

Shane quickly found his balance and rampaged forward, tackling Jensen down to the concrete floor. Rick tried pulling Jensen and Shane apart, but Shane threw a cheap punch to Rick. Rick’s morals flew out the door, nothing mattered anymore and joined Jensen in taking down Shane.

“Stop!” Lori shrieked.

Hershel pulled Carl’s shoulder back to drag him away from the violence but Carl pushed forward and pulled out his gun that Rick had given him a few days ago. Carl fired into the air to stop everyone from acting like children, which caused silence throughout the premises. 

Jolene was about to react and pull the men apart but the shot bolted everyone back a few inches and realized Carl was witnessing what was going on.

Carl’s mouth opened as he was about to speak but found himself lost of words as his eyes narrowed in at what was headed towards them.

*Trucks screeching*

All eyes were drawn to a camouflage army truck with three other trucks following behind.

“Shit.” Jolene mumbled to herself.

“Hershel, Jensen, help Lori, Carl and the rest of the group gather your weapons, then get to the bus. We need our escape plan ready to go.” Rick dictated as he got on both feet and rushed Lori over to Carl. He pulled out his Colt Python, ready to defend his territory.

They ran inside leaving Rick, Shane and Jolene outside. The Governor hopped out of the truck and headed toward the front of the fence, Martinez dragging his feet through the dirt behind him.

The intensification thickened as he made his way to the gate, he was closer to her now, giving him a highly euphoric boost. “Jolene!” The Governor’s eyes burned right through hers, a cool yet menacing look on his face. “Time to come home.”

Jolene glanced at Martinez, who was standing behind The Governor. Martinez looked away, avoiding eye contact with Jolene, ashamed for what he has done. The Governor's leering eyes roamed behind Jolene and let out a satisfying grin. Jolene glared as she turned around with Rick and Shane and simultaneously, their hearts had stopped.

Four well armed men were walking behind Hershel, Lori, Carl, Sophia, Clementine, Daryl, Carol and Andrea. They never made it to their weapons. The four men entered from the back of the prison and snuck up behind them in an ambush.

How could I have not seen this coming? Jolene thought to herself, mentally panicking.

-Jensen-

Jensen had ran into Jolene’s cell to gather all the weapons she had, quickly shoving everything he could get his hands on into her backpack while Lori and Carl went to gather the rest of the group. Jensen then left the cell to find the others but heard unfamiliar voices coming from down the hall; he knew that The Governor’s men had gotten in somehow. He now knew that all hope was lost and that one way or another, everyone would die. He ran off the other way to the bus, leaving everyone to fend for themselves.

Glenn was with Maggie, Beth and Charlie in his cell, talking about how life had changed and that they should expect the unexpected when they heard a gunshot from afar. Glenn ordered Maggie and Beth to take the dog and get to the bus after he made sure they were armed, then left to go check out what was going on outside. Glenn hid a few feet away from the commotion and was looking at everything that was going on. Glenn’s heart quickly flew out of his mouth, trying to figure out how to get out of this mess.

“Let them go!” Rick demanded, his eyes zooming in on the man who was pointing a gun at Carl’s back.

The tall man standing behind the frightened Carl smirked at Rick’s demand, making Rick, Shane and Jolene more infuriated.

“Let them go!” Jolene turned back to face The Governor.

“It ain’t that easy.” The Governor responded.

“You fuckin’ know damn well it is just that easy! You’re here because of me, not them. I’m the one you’re angry with.” Jolene pulled out her gun from her holster and laid it on the ground, surrendering herself completely. “You want me, then fine.” Jolene slowly walked towards the fence. “You can have me, just let them go.”

“I want the prison, I want them exterminated and I want you. No compromises. It’s the penalty for what you have done.” The Governor cautiously stared at Jolene, making sure she didn’t pull out another weapon that she might be hiding.

“You shouldn’t punish us for what this bitch did to you!” Shane stepped forward.

“Stop right there!” The Governor warned.

“Mas’k you somethin.” Shane stopped in his tracks. “Can you live with yourself knowing you are harming innocent children? Take the bitch, but don’t take it out on the rest of us.”

“You want the prison? Fine, take it, it’s yours.” Jolene compromised. “You want me to suffer? Fine. But don’t take it out on them. What would Penny think of you?”

The Governor slightly shuddered, tightly clenching his jaw at the sound of Penny’s name. She was trying to get under his skin, to make him rethink his actions. He knew what she was trying to do and it will not work on him.

“Killing innocent children? That’s not the man who saved me, the man I had the privilege to know. She wouldn’t recognize you, the monster you’ve become. She’d be petrified. You get the prison, you get to torture me. You win…what else could you possibly want?”

“Jolene, stop.” Hershel silently called out to her.

“Shut up, old man.” The shorter armed man pushed his gun to the back of Hershel’s neck.

Rick and Shane were scrambling up a plan to get out of this mess while everyone else who had guns pointed to their backs were thinking the worst of the situation.

“You, in the pigtails. Is this what you want? Is this what any of you want? To kill innocent children and people just for revenge on one person?” Jolene took a step closer.

“Martinez…” She looked to him. He finally looked into her eyes with nothing but regret. “This can’t be what you really want.”

“Enough!” The Governor had it with all the talking. “Crawley!” He nodded as he called out to the tall man behind Carl.

All four armed men pushed down Hershel, Carl, Lori, Daryl, Sophia, Carol, Clementine and Andrea to their knees, side by side and one by one. They pushed their guns to the back of their necks, almost making them lose their balance on their knees.

Jolene turned to see what was going on and knew what she was saying was not working.

“Dad!” Carl cried out as he felt the stinging, sharp pains run up his knees when he hit the concrete floor.

“Carl!” Rick quickly turned to The Governor. “You want blood, you want torture? Then take me! Take it out on me! Quit being a coward and be a man. Let my son go!”

Jolene stared at Clementine, Carol, Sophia, Carl and Lori, who were silently crying to themselves while Andrea, Hershel and Daryl tried to keep their composure. She knew this calamity was going to end in a blood bath.

Daryl glanced over at Sophia and couldn’t take it anymore. The man caving his gun to the back of Sophia’s neck was making him sick and he was starting to lose his temper.

“You feel like a big man pointing a gun at a child?” Daryl’s voice was slowly cracking at the thoughts of what was transpiring and what the outcome could possibly be.

Sophia started sobbing a little louder, not able to control it anymore. The sharp pain from falling on her knees and the thought of dying sent her emotions through the roof and Daryl’s heart shattered, knowing that if he didn’t play his cards right, it would be all over. “Shh, Daddy’s here, Sophia.”

“Please don’t let them hurt me, Daddy.” Sophia cried.

Carol’s heart burned with sadness as she heard Daryl utter those words to her daughter. He was stepping up, more than Ed, her ex husband, would have ever done.

“Let her go.” Daryl slowly twisted his waist and glanced over at the man standing behind Sophia.

“Shut up!” The man pushed Sophia with his gun, making her fall on her hands, her palms burned from the impact of hitting the rough pavement. 

“You’re going to wish you were dead when I’m done with you.” The Governor leered, completely ignoring what Rick said. His eyes gazed down Jolene’s body, giving her goosebumps of disgust as she stared back at him.

The man whose gun was pointed to the back of Sophia’s neck started feeling threatened as Daryl slowly turned to get a look at him. The man’s anxiety hit as Daryl’s eyes pierced through his and out of panic he fired his gun.

*Boom*

“Sophia!” Daryl and Carol cried out. The man standing behind Daryl was distracted by the gun shot and Daryl took advantage. He pushed back the man and fought for dominance.

The second the shot blared, the man behind Andrea pulled the trigger and at the same time. Andrea quickly turned and punched him in his royal jewels. The bullet penetrated through Andrea’s upper right leg, hitting the bone. 

The Governor and his henchmen started firing their weapons. The war has begun.

With no time for grieving, Jolene ran towards her gun that she laid down on the floor and dodged all the bullets flying from The Governor and his crew, trying to get to Clementine and the rest of the group. Daryl was battling it out with the man who shot Sophia, Rick was beating the man who was standing behind Carl to a pulp when he found his opening and Shane beat down the man who stood behind Lori and Clementine. Glenn came out of hiding and helped get Carl and Clementine out of harm’s way, as did Hershel.

Martinez did not have the heart to kill Jolene and her people, but at the same time did not want to suffer the consequences of The Governor, so he purposely missed them as he was firing his gun.

“Why aren’t you shooting?” The Governor looked back to the girl with the pigtails.

The girl stood there, limply holding her shotgun. She couldn’t move, her feet were heavy and her mouth was dry in disbelief, it was if she was paralyzed.

The Governor forcefully positioned the shot gun as his hands wrapped around her hands, getting her to pull the trigger against her will as she struggled to fight him off. “Shoot or I’ll…”

*Boom*

The bullet from her shotgun penetrated through a woman in the prison. Her jaw dropped to the ground in horror.

“Lori!” Rick cried out.

The girl with the pigtails looked out in front of her and saw a woman bleeding to death. She was disgusted with herself that The Governor made her kill an innocent woman.

“There you go, you’re getting it!” The Governor smiled with pleasure that her first shot killed one of the people.

Martinez couldn’t take it anymore. He gripped The Governor’s shoulder, turned him towards him and pistol whipped the evil mastermind cold in the face. Blood was now spewing down The Governor's nose and was forcefully pushed back by Martinez. A full on brawl broke out while the woman with the pigtails who stood there frozen in time aimed her gun and started shooting at her own crew. She didn’t have the best shot and knew she probably wouldn’t survive this, but she didn’t care anymore. There was no way she would be able to live with herself if all the people in the prison died.

“Mom!” Carl laid over Lori’s body, trying to pick her up, but Clementine yanked Carl off her, afraid that Lori would change into a walker and take Carl’s life.

Rick wanted to bend down to Lori’s aid, but knew there was no way she would make it and there was nothing he would be able to do to help her. The bullet penetrated into the middle of her chest. She was bleeding out, coughing up blood, slowly dying.

“Rick, we need to go now!” Shane pulled Rick back.

“No!” Rick screamed, looking down at his dying wife.

The Governor’s army truck busted down the fence and made his way closer to them. Every gunshot and scream attracted walkers from miles away and eventually found their way to the prison, scattering in like famished cockroaches.

“We gotta go!” Glenn helped Shane pull Rick away from Lori.

“We need to get to the bus!” Hershel commanded as he helped Carol pick up Andrea from the ground.

They all ran towards the bus, dodging bullets, and then Jolene stopped in her tracks, quickly turning back. She shot a couple of rounds into the window of the army truck but it didn’t seem to have much damage and then ran up to Lori.

Lori was slowly dying and Jolene did not want that for her. She may have not been her favorite person but she did not want her to become another rotting walker, knowing that Rick and Carl did not want that for her as well. She would never wish that, even on her worse enemy.

“I’m so sorry.” Jolene whispered and fired a bullet through her skull with no hesitation, ending her suffering.

-Jensen-

Jensen made it to the bus but his plan quickly deteriorated. Maggie and Beth were inside, waiting for the rest of the group.

“Where’s everyone else?” Maggie panicked as she opened the bus door for Jensen.

“I don’t know. The way it was, I don’t think anyone made it. We should leave now before it’s too late!” Jensen rushed into the bus and threw down Jolene’s backpack.

“We’re not leavin’ without them. They're coming, I know they are. I’m gonna go get them!” Maggie persisted.

“You’re not leavin!’” Beth started panicking as she was keeping a whimpering Charlie from getting off the bus. The thought of her sister leaving the bus put her at the edge of her seat.

“Don’t be stupid, we’re safe here.” Jensen replied.

Maggie didn’t listen and headed out the bus door. Jensen quickly wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up from behind, dragging her back into the bus while Maggie angrily tried to fight him off.

“Put me down!” She fought.

“Put her down!” Beth screamed as she let go of Charlie.

Charlie started viciously growling at Jensen, warning him that he’s about to attack if things didn’t calm down. Jensen dropped her down and Maggie turned to face him. She was angry at just not Jensen, but at everything that was going on, and before she could get in a word, Jensen spoke up.

“Are you both stupid? They are probably dead now, no reason we should be too. We need to leave now!”

“Maggie!” Beth pointed out the bus window.


	16. Open Road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late updates on this story. I'm going through some issues that is taking away a lot of my energy right now. I have not forgot about this story and will continue to write when I can. Thank you for your patience, kind words and for supporting this story, it means the world! I always like to hear what you lovely readers think so don't be afraid to drop a comment.  
> I would like to thank my beta reader, rocknrollprinces131 on FanFiction.net She has been my beta Reader on Chapter 12 all the way to this chapter. If you are ever on FanFiction.net check out her Walking Dead story, its pretty awesome!

****FlashBack****

"Get that gun out of my face!" Jolene demanded, standing her ground, even though she knew this was a losing battle. She was under a bridge, trying to catch her breath while staying out of sight. After escaping from jail eight days before, she was stranded on the outside of the city. Alone, hungry, exhausted, and ready to stop fighting off the supposedly dead people.

"Look, sugar tits. It ain't nuttin' personal, just trying to survive. This world's gone deeper down the shit hole and I'm on a mission to find my baby brother, so I need what you got to survive. Not too late to change your mind, hun. We could help each other, I'll scratch your back and you could scratch mine." The older man with a shotgun to Jolene's face informed with his husky, Southern accent, perverted aura, and sadistic smirk.

"This is mine." Jolene stared at the army backpack filled survival accessories. "I had to fight my way for it and I'm not about to give it up to some trailer trash redneck."

"You do see that you're outmatched, right, sweetheart?" The man grinned. "Why don't you just make like a woman and surrender? If you play nice, I'll let you go easy, how does that sound? Cuz I'd hate to damage that purtty little face of yours, so hand the bag over to your new pal Merle here."

"Just kill me now." Jolene took a step closer to his shot gun, ready to swallow her fate. She was tired and didn't want to continue in the world alone. "You could have the bag over my dead body." She provoked.

The man chuckled, amused with the woman who was dumb enough to step closer to his shotgun. What Jolene didn't know was that his shotgun was empty. He struck her down with the butt of his gun, opening the skin on her forehead and stood over her, ready to beat Jolene down some more before he took what he wanted. "Shoulda played nice." Merle kicked her in the ribs.

*Boom*

A bullet hit the concrete wall of the bridge, almost missing the man over Jolene. Merle quickly glanced back and saw a tall, older man running over to him. He decided to run away and leave the backpack behind that he wanted from Jolene, thinking the man running towards him was with her and without a loaded shotgun, he wasn't going to win the battle he thought he would have.

From the corner of Jolene's eye, she saw a man pacing towards her as Merle ran for his life. Laying there in pain, she thought he was was just another man trying to take her stuff or something much worse that she didn't bother getting up, hoping the new arrival would make it quick and put her out of her misery, once and for all.

"Are you okay?" The man bent down to her aide.

"Just get it over with." Jolene croaked, shutting her eyes tight.

"Let me help you up." The man wrapped her arm around his neck, helping her get on both feet.

Jolene stared at him, not knowing what to do or say as she backed away from him, trying to regain her composure."What do you want?"

"Nothing." The man stared into her eyes, honesty in his words. "Just a father on a mission." He picked up her backpack, Jolene carefully studied his movements and was sure he was robbing her. "Philip." The man introduced himself as he handed over her backpack. "It's not safe out here."

"It's not safe anywhere." Jolene quickly grabbed her backpack, still keeping an eye on his movements.

Phillip stared at Jolene, sensing good in her. Good, but lost and obviously troubled. In that moment, he decided to take her under his wing if she would let him. "You shouldn't trust anyone. They'll tell you what you want to hear and they could be your worst nightmare, but if you're going to trust anyone, might as well be me. I can show you safety." He pulled out a heavy pocket knife from his pants pocket and willingly handed it over to her.

"Where?" Jolene stared at the pocket knife, wondering what his motive was.

"Woodbury."****  
\---- ---- ---- ----

The four seconds after the bullet penetrated straight into Lori's skull felt surreal, out of this world and too difficult for Jolene to grasp. That gunshot seemed louder than all the rest, making her unsteady and unable to hear anything else but the firing of the gun when the trigger was pulled. Within those four seconds, the truck came to a stop and out came The Governor, reloading his Heckler & Koch MP5A2 submachine gun.

"Time to come home." The Governor grinned through his teeth, eagerly waiting to grab a hold of the woman who had caused all the chaos.

Finally she was face to face with the man who had destroyed the very little good going for her. Without any hesitation or thought, Jolene raised her gun and fired.

*CLICK*

"Hurry!" Beth frantically rushed to her father's aide, helping him into the bus as the rest of the group trampled in.

"I'll drive." Jensen quickly took over the driver's seat, turning the key in the ignition, awakening the bus.

Maggie glanced at Jensen with aversion. If she would have listened to him they would have left Hershel, Glenn and the rest of the group behind.

"Wait! Where's Joe?" Clementine worriedly looked around for her.

The group quickly gathered themselves together and looked out the windows of the bus, trying to find Jolene but sadly discovering that she was nowhere within their vision.

"Jolene." Rick muttered as he stumbled over himself, making his way to the bus door.

"No! She's lost now!" Shane forcefully pulled Rick away from the door.

"We gotta go!" Jensen growled as he saw some of The Governor's men running from a distance towards the bus. Jensen pushed down on the gas pedal and sped out of the prison. His heart shattered knowing that Jolene was not in the bus and a little part of him wanted to search for her, but knew that would be a suicide mission. The woman he had his heart set on was long gone.  
\---- ---- ---- ----

Jolene zoned out of reality with the sound of an empty chamber. This was it; she knew it was all over and that he succeeded in her capture. At this point, she wished she could trade places with Lori.

The rest of The Governor's army scattered away from him and into the prison, proceeding to the back to find the rest of Jolene's group, leaving The Governor alone with her.

The Governor grinned ear to ear and stepped forward to claim his prize. He laid down his gun, tightly grabbed a fistful of her hair in his large right hand as he dragged her towards himself but she quickly countered, clocking him in the nose with the butt of her gun. The battle was on.

"You stupid bitch." The Governor groaned as he quickly retaliated with a fist to her bottom lip. Jolene flew back, eyes shut with searing pain quickly coming to. The Governor rushed behind her and kicked the back of her knee, making her collapsed hard onto the pavement on both knees, right beside Lori's dead corpse. He wanted to take a good look at the face who had caused all the chaos, so he positioned himself in front of her, once again grabbing a chunk of her hair to pull her head up. "Get used to kneeling."

"Fuck you." Jolene gathered whatever saliva she had in her dry mouth and spat right in the middle of his face. She tried to not stare down at Lori's body but to no avail. The moment she glanced down, her stomach turned to triple knots.

The Governor's eyes closed with ecstasy. The sensation of her spit dripping down his nose gave him a rush of pleasure and dominance. Her doing everything in her power to rebel turned him on because in the end, he knew she had no way out of his grasp. She was his toy to play with. He formed a fist with his free hand and pulled it back to make the blow impactful.

"Hey!" Martinez shouted as he stood a few feet away from The Governor with the girl in the pigtails standing behind him.

The Governor opened his eyes; his hand still entangled in her hair, relaxed his clenched fist that was ready to strike her with and shifted his body to face Martinez, who was ready to fire a bullet into The Governor's skull.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance." The Governor stared dead in Martinez's eyes. "Go ahead…kill me." He let go of Jolene's hair and pushed her face away, making her fall back to the floor and turned his whole body. He gently picked up his submachine gun then started taking baby steps towards Martinez.

Martinez stuttered for a moment, a little part of him wished he never turned on The Governor. He had security, daily food and a place to sleep without the worries of a biter eating him for dinner. Despite the sudden fear, Martinez knew it was the right thing to do and pulled the trigger before The Governor got too close.

*CLICK*

The Governor quickly leapt forward and punched Martinez in the eye, knocking him away a couple of feet. The girl gripped her pocket knife and raised her right hand but The Governor swiftly punched her in the jaw, making her fall to the ground and scurry into the prison.

Martinez wanted to go after him but it was the perfect time to get out of there before anything else unfortunate would happen. He held his hand out to help the girl get up on her feet, then made his way over to Jolene.

"We gotta go." Martinez grabbed Jolene's right arm and put it over his shoulder while wrapping his other arm around her waist to help her up.

"Keys are still in the ignition." The girl shouted out to Martinez and Jolene as she was standing beside The Governor's open truck.

"Let's go." Martinez grabbed Jolene's wrist and pulled her towards the truck.

"No!" Jolene shook free from his grip. "We gotta get to the bus."

"I hope there's another bus. We just saw it leave the prison." The girl stated.

"Wh…what?" Jolene's heart dropped as her eyes started flickering, trying to adjust to the bombshell news.

"Whoever is left in your group is gone." Martinez would have done anything at that moment to avoid breaking the tragic news to her.

"No…no, no." Jolene gulped, not wanting to believe that Rick, Clementine, Carl and everyone she knew was gone.

"We gotta go." Martinez opened the passenger side door and quickly helped Jolene in.  
\---- ---- ---- ----

The sounds of a few coughs and sniffles echoed the bus, no one knew what to say or even where to go. Andrea tried holding in her pain, but she couldn't anymore. She started moaning in agony as she tightly held her upper right leg around the bullet wound. Hershel got out of his seat and walked over to Andrea to attend to her wound.

"We need to stop soon. If we don't get this bullet out of her leg…" Hershel was cut off.

"Stop where?" Jensen snarled.

Hershel ripped the long sleeve of the flannel over shirt that Andrea kept folded up and tightly wrapped it around her wound. "Anywhere, we need to find the proper tools to…"

"Look around you! Does it look like we have a nearby clinic?!" Jensen argued, staring at the dark trees surrounding them while speeding down the dirt road, only able to see what the head lights allowed him.

"I'm fine." Andrea gulped. She was far from fine, but the arguing made matters worse and she would much rather have it quiet.

Rick was slumped over, his elbows resting on his knees as his right hand interlocked with his left, letting his head rest on his hands as Carl sat next to him staring at nothing but the specks of dirt on the floor. They both couldn't believe that they just witnessed the woman in their lives die before their eyes and couldn't believe that Jolene, the woman they were growing closer to each day, was gone as well. Their mental state was beyond rock bottom, and neither one of them knew how to cope with it. Nothing around them seemed to exist anymore.

Carol's head was buried deep into Daryl's vest, quietly sobbing to herself, for she too was at an all time low. Sophia counted on her to keep her safe and she couldn't. If she had a pistol in her hands at that moment, she would have blown her brains out. Children should be burying their parents instead of parents burying their children, and no mother should outlive her child.

Shane stood at the back of the bus trying to comprehend what just happened and Glenn sat by Clementine, rocking her slowly to comfort the frightened child. Maggie got up from the edge of her seat and Beth kept her eyes on her as she was holding on to Charlie. Maggie rushed towards Jensen and pushed him on the shoulder.

Jensen took his eyes off the road and angrily looked up to her. "What the…"

Maggie interjected. "I've had just about enough of…"

As Maggie was about to let out her anger on Jensen, all the tires on the bus simultaneously blew, making the bus lose control. Jensen, who had his foot pressed all the way down on the gas, tried to take back control, but it was too late and he had lost control. The bus swerved to the right and everyone on the bus tried to grab on tight to their seat and each other, bracing themselves for the impact that was unavoidable.

"Hold on!" Shane yelled over Clementine's screaming.

Maggie tried to hold on to Jensen but quickly flew forward, not able hold on to him on time.  
\---- ---- ---- ----

After a few minutes of driving at full capacity, Martinez stopped the truck.

"Why are we stopping?" The girl questioned.

"Gotta check our arsenal." Martinez checked the inside for any weapons, then got out of the truck and checked the back. One shot gun, a sniper rifle and a machete was all they had to their names with limited ammo.

"Is that all we have?" The girl got off the truck, worry clearly sketched on her face.

"Yeah."

"Well, we have my pocket knife it that helps...which it probably won't." She stated.

"It counts. A simple pocket knife saved my ass countless times." Martinez stared into the dark woods.

Jolene sat on the passenger seat, not a word or a movement from her as she was still trying to put together what had happened at the prison.

"What are we going to do about her?" The girl questioned nodding her head to the side at Jolene.

"Let her cope, she just lost her group." Martinez looked into the truck and eyed Jolene. "We should keep going."

"Go where?" The girl asked.

"Far away from here, just let me take a piss first."  
\---- ---- ---- ----

The whole front of the bus was crushed in as it rammed hard into a tree. Jensen remained in his seat, but the impact took a toll on him. With shattered glass from the front window flying into his face and simultaneously hitting his face hard into the steering wheel caused a two inch gash across his forehead along with a few more little cuts on his face. Maggie was thrown back and forth and when the impact came she fell hard to the ground and unfortunately, her hand broke her fall.

Everyone else was scattered all around the bus, their bodies aching from being thrown out of their seats.

"Help." Andrea groaned as she tried to sit up after falling off her seat.

Shane slowly pushed himself up from the ground and limped over to Andrea.

"I can't move my leg." She panicked.

Everyone slowly got on their feet, grunting from the pain but luckily only suffering minor cuts and bruises.

"Shh. Did anyone hear that?" Glenn's left ear twitched from a small sound outside the bus.

Everyone tried to stay quiet in attempts to listen. Daryl took a look through the window and noticed a dark figure disappearing into the woods, which raised his suspicions. Walkers beckon to noise, not away from it, so what exactly walked away from them? Carl was looking out the window on the opposite end of Daryl and noticed a few shadowed figures appearing from the darkness and making their way to the bus.

"Dad…" Carl breathed with his heart speeding faster than a bullet.

Shane left Andrea's side and moved Carl away from the window and took a look outside. "Oh shit…"


	17. Into the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late late update! I actually have a big twist to this story in the future chapters to come. I haven't read anything like what I'll be writing soon so I hope you will all enjoy it and that it keeps you on the edge of your seat. I know this story isn't the best but if you remotely like it then awesome! :D  
> Also, I don't use this site very much and don't know how to use it to well and I just figure out that I had messages in my inbox. I didn't even know :0 So sorry if I never got back to your messages. Thanks for being patient and trust me, the future chapters are going to get a lot better!

"Shit." Martinez violently threw the truck keys at the windshield.

The girl with the pigtails flinched back, startled by his sudden outburst. Jolene jumped out of the truck and started walking forward.

Martinez eyed Jolene for a couple of seconds, then realized she wasn't going to come back. "Joe!" He ran after her.

Jolene never turned back and kept going, staring straight ahead into the dark night and not taking in her surroundings of what could possibly be lurking in the shadows.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Martinez grabbed a hold of Jolene's shoulders and turned her his way.

"Don't touch me!" Jolene pushed him back.

"Hey, we need to stay together. Like it or not, we're all we have."

Jolene smirked as she brushed her tangled hair back. Out of all the emotions that transpired it was anger got the best of her. She leaned back, formed a fist with her right hand and pushed forward with all her might, punching Martinez in the nose before walking away. The wind was knocked out of Martinez as he flew back, but he quickly regained his composure and tackled Jolene from behind, knocking her down. He flipped her over to her back and held her wrists down. "I don't wanna hurt you." He grunted but Jolene head butted him before he could get in the rest of what he wanted to say.

"Stop it!" The pigtailed girl screamed as she pointed the shotgun back and forth between Jolene and Martinez. "I can't take the fighting anymore so grow the fuck up! We're all going through traumatic shit so let's figure out how to get past it together because that's the only way we're going to survive."

Both Jolene and Martinez got on their feet and stood there like children who were getting chewed out by their mother.

"Who found me?" Jolene stared past Tara who was several feet ahead of her, her eyes wondering around the dark to make sure there were no walkers in sight.

Martinez hesitated, wondering if he should lie and say that Philip had found her but knew that telling lies always had a funny way of revealing itself sooner or later. "I'm sorry."

Jolene shut her eyes tight, she had lost everything once again but because of Martinez this time. "I don't remember you so you must've been new to Woodbury. What's your name?" Jolene asked the girl in the pigtails with her eyes still shut closed, disregarding Martinez for a moment.

The girl hesitated, afraid to speak because of the thick tension between Martinez and Jolene. "Tara." She croaked. "I didn't know what he was capable of… I really didn't. I didn't know who any of you were. He said the people in the prison were responsible for killing his family and innocent members in Woodbury."

Jolene sternly walked up to Tara and glared into her eyes, trying to read her, except all she saw was a misdirected girl who was seeking forgiveness. "I know." Jolene muttered as she walked away from her and headed towards the truck to grab the sniper rifle and machete. She walked up to Martinez, staring at him as if she wanted to throw down and brawl but restrained herself from doing so and handed him the sniper rifle. Martinez stared at her with nothing but remorse as he grabbed the rifle.

"I'm moving forward, whether you guys follow me or not is completely your choice. I'm done following people to my death." Jolene started walking forward with the machete in her right hand.

"We should find shelter, somewhere to catch our breath." Tara spoke.

"Do what'd you like. You see this?" Jolene pointed the machete to the fresh tire tracks ahead. "Tire tracks. I know it's them… I'm going to find em'."

\---- ---- ---- ----

Rick, Daryl, Shane, Glenn and Jensen grabbed their weapons and ran out of the bus like a SWAT team to defeat the herd of walkers from getting into the bus.

Carl, Carol, Clementine, Maggie, Beth, Andrea, Hershel and Charlie stayed in the bus, carefully watching the action taking place outside through the windows and ready to go out if needed for backup.

Shane, Jensen, Glenn and Daryl took out their rage and frustration on the walkers approaching the bus, but Rick seemed to take it a little too far. Rick stabbed a walker in the head with his large hunting knife and repeatedly kept stabbing away after the rotting walker was out as if it was going to reanimate if the head wasn't completely damaged all around and would proceed to the next walker who tried to take a bite at him. A little more than five dozen walkers were slowly making their way to the bus and only a small dent of walkers has been taken out. Skulls were bashed in with the little strength they all had left.

"Rick!" Daryl called out to warn him as he leapt forward at the walker ahead of him and stabbed it straight through its skull. As Rick was on top of a walker bashing open its head to the ground with his bare hands there was a rotting child who could have been no more than ten years old slowly sneaking up on Rick.

"Dad!" Carl pulled out the gun that was sticking out of Jensen's backpack and before Hershel could hold Carl down he ran out of the bus and shot the little girl walker that was an inch away from biting his father before Rick fully turned around to fight it off himself.

"Carl!" Rick pushed himself up and ran over to him, brining him into his left arm and stabbed another walker who was to his right. At that moment, walkers were spread apart but slowly getting closer and a shinny sharp metal spike caught the corner of Rick's eye. It was penetrated deep inside the front right tire of the bus and the rest of the tires were blown out. He found it incredibly odd that all the tires on the bus combusted at once and knew that there was something unnatural about it.

"We won't be able to fight em' all off. We need to bail!" Maggie took charge when she noticed that there were still more walkers making their way to the bus from all sides. "It's too dark to tell how many there really are but from what I'm seeing we have no choice but to run now before it's too late. There is no way we can keep fighting in the condition we're in."

"Gather what we need, stay close and head out." Hershel commanded as he started gathering everything useful that they would need to fight and stay alive, then bent down to Clementine's level. "We need to run, run as fast as you can but don't lose sight of us. Don't go off without someone by your side and stay quiet." Hershel squeezed her hand tight.

"Okay." Clementine gulped, truly terrified, but knew there was no other option. She knew what the possible outcome could be if she didn't listen to orders from her experience with the last group she was in before she met Jolene.

"Ready!" Beth grabbed Jensen's backpack and held it tight around her shoulder.

"Carol, help me with Andrea." Hershel wrapped Andrea's arm around his neck as did Carol and lifted her up.

"Just go without me. I'm dead weight and you know it." Andrea groaned in pain.

"I already lost my daughter tonight, I'm not losing anyone else." Carol tilted Andrea's chin up with her free hand and stared into her eyes, letting her know that no man will be left behind.

"Hold my hand, sweetie, don't let go." Maggie gripped Clementine's hand and Beth grabbed her other. "Let's go!" Maggie kicked the back doors open and Charlie dashed out the door with a nasty growl. Maggie, Beth and Clementine jumped out of the bus and made their way towards Rick who was in front of the bus. After Hershel helped Andrea out and was in Carol's arms he closed the bus doors behind him and continued to help Andrea and Carol.

"We gotta run, there's too many of them." Maggie gripped Rick's arm to capture his attention, who was in mid action with another walker while Carl was still in his hold.

"Everyone stay close, we gotta run!" Rick yelled to inform Daryl, Jensen, Shane and Glenn.

"There are a few cabins we could take cover in inside the woods not too far from here." Jensen sprinted over to Rick.

"Are you sure?" Rick questioned as he blasted a bullet from his Colt Python on the walker getting closer to them.

"Yeah, my buddies and I used to hunt in these areas. Follow me!" Jensen ran straight ahead.

Everyone stopped trying to win the battle and followed after Rick and Jensen as they made a dash into the woods, dodging walkers left and right, only killing the ones that were in their pathway.

\---- ---- ---- ----

After what felt like hours of marching through the dirt road, Martinez finally broke the silence. "I don't know how long we can all keep walking. We should find shelter."

"Where's shelter?" Jolene lashed out and twirled around with her arms out in the open.

"We could find somewhere, we can't keep walking all night to God knows where." Martinez looked to her with a hint of fear, afraid that any little thing he would say would tick Jolene off.

"There are a few cabins in these woods that could probably be great to stop and rest in, so go. These tire tracks we're following… it's them, I know it is and as long as I see these tracks, I'm not stopping. You two are grown ass people, get lost for all I care. I don't need you guys." Jolene turned and started following the tracks again.

"You might not need us but we could use all the help we can get. I can sense that you're a nice girl, but losing your group changes a person. I shot that woman and I can't begin to tell you how much I regret it. Every time I close my eyes I'm haunted by the image of it, so I'm following you to back you up. My life is in your debt." Tara spoke up.

Jolene turned around and walked up to Tara. "Lori. That woman's name was Lori. She was a mother and wife and no matter how much we butted heads, she didn't deserve that terrible fate."

Tara stood there, her eyes watering from the thought of killing a wife and much worse, a mother.

"But you don't deserve to be punished for doing what you thought was right." Jolene continued after a deep breath. Tara scrunched her eyebrows in, wondering what that meant. "We've all made unforgettable mistakes and we tend to question who we've become. You killed a woman tonight…but because of that, you were just born. You shouldn't follow, you lead to keep yourself alive."

Tara couldn't contain it anymore, tears of anguish dripped down her cheeks and onto the dirt road. She would always be guilty for killing Lori and for all the other horrible things she's done and witnessed before Woodbury.

A loud gurgling growl snapped Jolene, Tara and Martinez out of the moment and stared straight ahead when Martinez flashed his flashlight that was starting to flake out forward. Jolene marched forward and with everything she had she swung the machete straight through the walker's neck for a clean decapitation.

"Joe." Martinez called and motioned his head forward, still pointing the flashlight ahead. Jolene took a hard stare at something yellow barely shinning through the dark night. Excitement and panic bolted through the pit of her stomach as she started to run forward. "Joe, wait!" Martinez called out to her, not sure what was up ahead and didn't want her to run into possible danger.

Jolene's eyes started adjusting to the night, seeing a yellow school bus that was crashed into a tree. As she finally reached the bus, she caught eye of the busted tires and dead rotting bodies surrounding it. The excitement tarnished away and she was only left with panic, the fear of what had happened to her group. She searched the bodies, looking for familiar faces that she hopped she wouldn't find. Martinez and Tara finally caught up to her and grossly stared down at the dead walkers, praying that Jolene didn't know any one of them.

With the machete held tight in her hand, Jolene opened the back door of the bus without scouting through the windows to see if it was safe to head in.

"Joe!" Martinez tried to get a grip on Jolene, but she managed to escape his hold and barged through the doors. She sighed in a small moment of relief, certain that everyone made it out just in time since she didn't see any of their bodies in sight.

She did a walk through, checking for anything useful the group may have left behind but nothing was left. She sat down by the front of the bus for a moment's rest. Jolene cradled her head in her hands with her elbows pushing down on her knees. She was glad they made it out but now didn't know where to begin to find them. As she stared down to the ground she noticed a photo folded in half. She felt herself wanting to tear up when she reached down and opened it. It was the photo Clementine took of her and Rick and she couldn't look at it for long. Jolene folded it and slipped it in her back pocket, trying everything in her power to stay strong and not break down.

"Joe, you alright?" Martinez stood outside the bus as a sign of respect and to give her some privacy that he knew she needed.

"They're alive." Jolene jumped out of the bus and observed the footprints on the ground. Martinez shed the light for Jolene's vision but it was difficult to distinguish the walkers from the group's prints until she started to see prints that remained steady and straight, not sloppy like a walker, so she followed them straight into the woods. Martinez was right behind her with the flashlight and Tara walked behind Martinez, not wanting to follow them into the woods because she was afraid of what could be lurking up ahead, but she was even more terrified of being left alone.

\---- ---- ---- ----

"There." Jensen pointed from afar at a small cabin ahead.

"It's about time." Shane stepped ahead of Jensen, rushing over to the cabin. He didn't want to stick with the group any longer than he could help it but needed to just a little while longer until he found a working vehicle so he could quietly slip away. Shane couldn't stand being told what to do by Rick and hated that they were following Jensen to God knows where, he just knew they were headed for disaster.

Rick, Glenn, Daryl and Jensen increased their speed to catch up with Shane who ran with everything he had and kicked open the cabin door, disappearing inside. As the men were running, Charlie escaped Clementine's side and ran after them.

"Charlie!" Clementine yelled in distress as the dog ran forward after the men.

"It's okay, let him be." Maggie gripped her hand a little tighter so she wouldn't run after him.

Hershel and Carol had Andrea's arms around their necks and helped her to the nearest tree across the cabin several feet away, waiting there for the okay to enter. Maggie, Beth and Clementine rested by the next tree over. Andrea leaned back against the tree, exhausted and on the verge of passing out. Carl couldn't relax because he knew there was no such thing anymore, so he paced back and forth in front of the cabin, eagerly waiting for his father to step out.

"You guys!" Glenn rushed out of the cabin. Carl, Beth, and Maggie, who dragged Clementine with her, paced forward to Glenn and grinned ear to ear with what was in his hands. "We hit the jackpot!" Glenn smiled with three cans of beans in his hands. "There's a lot more inside."

Maggie and Beth sighed in relief, excited that at least they had canned food. Carl gently smirked and raced into the cabin in search of Rick. Hershel looked to Carol and rubbed her back for comfort, knowing that it was going to take a lot more than canned goods to make her smile again. It was going to take a lot of time after losing her daughter.

Andrea was still leaned up against the tree, falling in and out of consciousness from exhaustion and the bullet wound on her leg. The fact that she didn't get enough sleep didn't help the cause, and with those three factors on her side she didn't see that a flesh eating woman without a right shoulder and a wrinkled mold covered white dress that was on the brink of falling off her emaciated decayed body was approaching her.

"We get to rest tonight." Glenn kissed Maggie on the lips.

"I'm gonna go help Andrea in." Maggie gently smiled and turned back around with Beth by her side to help Andrea into the cabin.

"Aahhhhh!" Andrea's blood curdling scream echoed for miles throughout the woods.

"Andrea!" Maggie screamed and rushed over to her aid. Everyone ran out of the cabin on high alert to see what was happening.

Andrea didn't carry the strength to push the walker away from her and fell to the ground when the walker pushed its weight onto her. The walker crawled on top of her and was an inch away from biting her nose off, it's rotting gooey bodily fluids dripped on her face and slipped into her open mouth. Hershel pulled the walker off Andrea and as soon as that walker was on both feet Maggie leapt forward and stabbed it through the skull with her good hand, not able to use her right hand since she fell on it pretty hard when the bus crashed. The walker collapsed right by Andrea, who was panting and trying to back away from it.

"Are you okay?" Maggie bent down check on her.

"Were you bit?" Beth followed up.

"No." Andrea started coughing as she tried to spit out the nasty fluids in her mouth. "I'm fine, just let me breath." Andrea pushed away from Maggie and Beth, not wanting to be touched.

Everyone else stood in the background, not knowing what to do with Andrea and kept their eyes on the woods in search for anymore threats.

"Someone's watching us!" Shane saw a black shadow behind the cabin disappear into the woods. "Get back here and face us like a man! You get your rocks off by watching other people?" Shane exploded.

"Shane!" Rick pulled him back as he was about to go running into the woods to find the mystery person.

"Don't touch me!" Shane shoved Rick away from him.

"You need to keep it down!" Rick demanded. "You think being loud is going to help our case right now? You wanna lead the herd our way after we barely managed to ditch them?"

Shane rubbed the back of his head, his anger was at its boiling point and he was ready to erupt. "You really…"

"Enough already!" Glenn interjected as the voice of reason. "We already have enough on our plate and the last thing we need is two alpha males arguing. Andrea is hurt, she needs medical attention. We're all starving, tired and aching, and now we are being watched by who knows how many people, so quiet down and let's head into the cabin and set up a plan."

\---- ---- ---- ----

"Does that look like a cabin up ahead to you?" Martinez flashed his flashlight forward.

"I really hope so. These footprints we're following are slowly disappearing." Tara commented.

"Shh." Jolene shushed them with her finger hovering over her mouth.

Martinez, Tara and Jolene stood there and tried to make out the sounds that were getting closer.

"It's a herd." Martinez gulped as they all realized that the herd was coming in from all around them.

"Sh…should we head back to where we came from?" Tara stuttered.

"Head back to what? The cabin is straight forward, that's where we need to go. There are walkers all around us, they're not just coming from one direction." Jolene informed.

"Only way is to fight." Martinez checked how many bullets he had in his sniper rifle.

"We hardly have any juice left. How are we going to have the strength to take em' all out? It sounds like a huge herd." Tara mentioned with her anxiety blowing through the roof.

Jolene didn't care if Martinez and Tara were going to back her up or make a run for it, she was determined to get into the cabin, hoping that her group found shelter in it so she jogged forward, ready to swing her machete through every skull she came in contact with. She swung left and right, crushing through skulls with the very little energy she tried to preserve with Martinez and Tara who were right behind her, covering her back as the walkers started to swarm around them.

"There are too many!" Tara yelled as she used the butt of her now empty shotgun to break through the dead, but it was taking too much of her effort to crack through a skull with the butt of her shotgun that she pulled out her pocket knife in hopes that it was a faster and easier method.

"Joe, we're getting surrounded here." Martinez informed, sniping away the walkers as if Jolene didn't already have knowledge of their predicament.

Jolene knew by the looks of it that it was starting to become a losing battle, there were just too many. Jolene was suddenly tackled down from behind, the machete flying out of her hand and her face against the dirt and as she inhaled for a breath all she got was a mouthful of soil. She tried to push herself up to turn around and kick the walker off her but her strength was gone. She felt her muscles tremble in agony, certain at that point that it was all over, that the walker would take a huge chunk out of her head. As she was repenting for the sins she committed, accepting death, the weight of the walker was suddenly relieved.

She quickly turned to her back and made contact with a black woman with flowing dreadlocks and a katana in her hands who just made the walker taste what was in Jolene's mouth, dirt. The woman reached down to grab a hold of Jolene's hand and pulled her up on both feet, then quickly sliced a walker's head off who was nearing them. Jolene was mesmerized by the woman, who appeared to be a samurai of the night.

"Keep fighting!" The woman called out to Jolene as she continued to dance with her sword and that is exactly what Jolene did. She snapped back into the moment and machete chopped as many walkers as she could.

As the walkers went down one by one, everyone started to finally breathe again when Martinez took down the last one of the flesh eating rotters. The woman with the katana stared at the three people who stood four feet away from her, still on high alert, not knowing if they were one of the very little good people left on this sad world or if they were the ones who needed exterminating.

"Thank you." Martinez, Tara and Jolene simultaneously spoke.

"You really saved our asses there." Martinez stepped forward, laying down his sniper rifle so she wouldn't be startled by him. "Name's Martinez."

"I'm Tara." She lowered her shotgun.

Jolene stood there, analyzing the woman to see what she was all about as did the woman herself, waiting to see if Jolene would introduce herself like the others did. After a moment of staring into her eyes she walked two feet forward. "Jolene… but I go by Joe."

The woman could see that they were not a threat to her, at least not right now, so she slid her katana back into its case behind her back and stepped forward. "Michonne."

"Do you have a camp, some place you're holding up?" Martinez questioned.

"No. Not anymore." Michonne answered. "Do you guys?"

"I was holding up at a prison after a group of good people took me in but that's not the case anymore." Jolene glared at Martinez then back to Michonne. "You see that cabin up ahead?" Jolene pointed. "I've been following footprints from a crashed bus my group escaped in, I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe the footprints were leading to that cabin and that they're in there hopefully."

Michonne looked over to the cabin then back to Jolene. She sensed that she was the leader of the group from the way she was holding herself and even though she didn't want to admit it because she has once in a blue moon been wrong about her intuition, but she sensed that Jolene was a woman she didn't have to fear.

"If it wasn't for you then we might not have been able to reach it. You saved my ass, so I owe you one. If you were a bad person then I would have sensed it by now. You could stick around, help one another out or go on your merry way. It doesn't really matter to me, I'm looking for my group no matter what." The eye contact between Jolene and Michonne lingered for a bit, still reading each other then she walked away to the cabin.

"We'd really could use the extra muscle. I'm hoping you'll stick with us." Martinez stared at Michonne before following behind Jolene.

"What he said." Tara smiled and held her fist out for a bump.

Michonne glared at her, then stared at her fist, confused but lightly pounded her fist against Tara's. Tara couldn't help but smirk at the fairly attractive woman and followed behind Martinez, hoping that Michonne would follow.

Michonne stared at the three making their way to the cabin and decided to follow right behind them. They seemed like decent people to her but she was still going to keep her guard up just in case, better safe than sorry. Normally, she would have walked away from them since she's encountered too many bad people who betrayed her trust, but she didn't want to be alone anymore. She wanted to have the sense of belonging, to fit in somewhere and perhaps it could be with them. Two girls and one guy, it was nothing she couldn't handle, especially Tara who seemed innocent enough with her childish fist bump.

Jolene, Martinez and Tara stepped up to the cabin door and Jolene twisted the knob to see if it was unlocked, but unfortunately it was not, so Michonne decided to scout around the cabin for anything suspicious as well as another entrance. As she reached the back of the cabin, Michonne noticed that the place had a cellar with a heavy chain around the knobs but unlocked.

"Anyone have anything to jimmy the door?" Jolene asked.

"Step aside, I'll kick it open." Martinez moved Jolene to the side. As Martinez took a step back and braced himself for an impact to the door that he was about to kick open they were caught by surprise when the door swung open and five men with shotguns and a pistol were on the inside, aiming straight at them.

Michonne heard the commotion in the front so she carefully tried to peak at what was going on without being seen. She saw Jolene, Tara and Martinez standing by the door, frozen in time with their hands in the air. She knew that someone was inside the cabin, threatening to shoot them, and by the fearful looks in their eyes, Michonne knew that it wasn't the group Jolene was seeking.

A tall, slim man with short dark brown unkempt hair, his bangs barely reaching his eyebrows and brown-green eyes made his way to the front of his four comrades and put down his shotgun. "Well boys, looks like we won't be going hungry anytime soon."

\---- ---- ---- ----

It was late, everyone was drop dead exhausted to deal with anything at the time being, so Shane and Glenn decided to take first shift and keep watch while everyone else got their much needed sleep. They voted to come up with a plan in the morning because it was useless for them to try to think of one when everyone was sleepy, irritated along with being in mental and physical agony. The cabin they were holding up in had one private restroom that had a dead body lying by the toilet. Whoever that person was obviously couldn't take the world he lived in anymore and committed suicide with his pistol right beside him. The restroom reeked of rotting flesh and maggots infesting the small restroom, so they shut the door and left it closed. The place only had one bedroom, so everyone decided to sleep in there while Shane and Glenn camped out in the living room who occasionally would check up on the sleeping and peak through the windows for signs of danger.

Rick held Carl in his arms in the corner of the room with a pillow underneath their heads while Maggie, Beth and Andrea slept on the full size bed, Hershel and Clementine held Charlie between them on the other side of the room with a sheet over them and Daryl held Carol tight as she used his arm for a pillow. Everyone was paired up with a buddy for support and to not have the fear of sleeping alone, even though they were cramped into a room.

Andrea's eyes flew open, awakened by her full bladder and realized that nature called now and couldn't wait until morning. She tried to pull herself up, but was still physically and emotionally drained that she couldn't. She stared down at her leg that was wrapped with the other piece of her shirt sleeve that Hershel ripped off. Hershel had tried to get the bullet out of her leg before they went to bed with the tools they had at their disposal but it was useless, he didn't have the appropriate tools and the bullet was too far in.

"Andrea, are you okay?" Beth awoke when she felt Andrea moving.

"I need to use the restroom."

"Okay. Let me help you." Beth yawned.

"I don't need help." Andrea lightly moaned, trying to get herself up.

"Yes, you do." Beth helped her up regardless.

As Beth had Andrea's arm around her neck she led her to the restroom. "No." Andrea resisted, not wanting to go inside the disgusting restroom. "I'd rather go outside than use the disturbingly gross restroom in here. Did you forget how it was in there? There were maggots inside the toilet bowl and not to mention the poor dead sap lying by the toilet. That is a big no no!"

"You're right. I'm sorry, I forgot for a second there." Beth tried to fully wake up and remembered where they were as she turned and helped Andrea into the living room.

"Where do you think you two are going?" Shane questioned.

"To take a piss. Why else would I be going outside?" Andrea snarled.

"What's wrong with the restroom in here?" He asked.

"Are you serious? Did you not see the condition the restroom was in?" Beth hissed.

"Here." Glenn tossed Andrea a paper towel roll. "I'll go with you guys."

"Um, no. Beth is enough to hear me take a leak. I don't want anyone else near me."

Glenn hesitated to leave them two alone outside but knew he wouldn't win against women and Mother Nature. He's already tried that with Maggie and failed miserably. "Okay, just step out the door, don't go any further."

"Yeah, yeah." Andrea limped out the front door with Beth holding on to her and shut the door behind her.

"Women, am I right?" Shane looked over to Glenn. "They're both moody as fuck, must be that time of the month."

Glenn looked away, ignoring Shane's remark. He couldn't believe he had to stay awake with that inconsiderate jackass.

"Help me over to that tree right there." Andrea pointed to the nearest tree by the cabin several feet away.

"That's a little far, don't you think? What's wrong with right here?" Beth asked as they were still standing by the door.

"Right here so that perv Shane can peak through the window at me, I don't think so. If you won't take me, I'll take myself."

"Okay, okay." Beth caved in and helped Andrea over to the tree.

Andrea squatted down behind the tree with the paper towel roll in her hands and Beth took a step away, patiently waiting. Once Andrea finished she slowly pulled her pants back up. She started to feel weaker and was sweating more than usual and didn't posses the strength to zip her pants zipper up.

"Shhh."

Andrea heard someone shush her in the back of her neck and as she turned around in a panic, she was struck with a blunt object and fell to the ground, completely knocked unconscious.

Beth was late to see what was going on right behind her. When she turned around and saw a man she didn't know, she opened her mouth for a scream but before she could let it out, the man knocked her across the head with the same blunt object.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank my beta reader, rocknrollprinces131 on FanFiction.net She has been my beta Reader on Chapter 12 all the way to this chapter.   
> Also on an unrelated note, I also have a OneRepublic/Ryan Tedder FanFic posted so if you are a fan you should check it out! I had to write one since there are not many stories out there!


End file.
